l>4~ 


LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL: 


A    REFUTATION 


OF  THE 


THEORY  OF  ANNIHILATION. 


BY  SAMUEL  C.  BARTLETT,  D.D., 

PROFESSOR   IN   CHICAGO   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY. 


PUBLISHED   BY  THE 

AMERICAN   TRACT    SOCIETY, 

28    CORNHILL,    BOSTON. 


&  3 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1866,  by 

The  American  Tract  Society, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


Boston : 
Geo.  C.  Rand  &  Avery,  Stereotypers  and  Printers. 


^-o 


Ik, 


PREFACE. 


This  volume  was  prepared  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  many 
persons  who  found  no  full  and  satisfactory  reply  to  the  spe- 
cious arguments  of  annihilationists,  and  who  were  greatly  trou- 
bled at  their  industrious  efforts  to  diffuse  the  system.  It  was 
nearly  completed  more  than  two  years  since,  and  only  lacked  a 
final  revision  preparatory  to  publication.  But  a  sudden  and 
long-continued  pressure  of  other  duties  has  prevented  that  re- 
vision until  the  present  time.  Meanwhile,  no  considerable  change 
has  taken  place  in  the  aspect  of  the  case,  and  no  new  treatise  of 
any  account  has  appeared.  But  the  heresy  has  been  laboriously 
disseminating  itself.  Its  ablest  advocate  in  this  country  travels 
about,  selling  his  own  books,  and  boasting  of  a  larger  number  of 
adherents  among  educated  men  than  we  suppose  the  facts  will 
warrant.  But  we  do  receive  information  from  various  quarters, 
that  many  simple-minded  persons  are  led  astray  by  the  sophistry. 
Among  our  Baptist  brethren,  we  hear  of  some  very  considerable 
movements,  as  in  Gratiot  County,  Mich.,  where  the  sect  has 
gained  strength  enough  to  attempt  the  building  of  a  church. 
And,  in  the  denomination  to  which  the  writer  belongs,  we  have 
not  forgotten  the  development  at  a  recent  council  held  in  Port- 
land, Me. 

The  spread  of  this  error  differs  somewhat  from  that  of  Uni- 
versalism.  The  latter  has  never,  in  this  country,  made  any  con- 
siderable progress  among  devout  persons.  Individual  cases  may 
perhaps  be  mentioned  of  seemingly  pious  and  spiritual  men 
who  have  accepted  the  belief  of  universal  salvation.  But  the 
great  mass  of  its  advocates  have  been  those  who  have  manifested 


ill 


-84639 


IV  PREFACE. 

no  religious  life  whatever.  It  is  otherwise  with  the  present  sys- 
tem. We  are  told  that  it  has,  in  many  instances,  ensnared  men 
of  unquestioned  piety. 

The  chief  plausibility  of  the  argument  for  annihilation  lies 
upon  the  surface ;  and  its  greatest  force  is  felt  by  those  who 
have  never  analyzed  language  so  much  as  to  reflect  upon  the 
idioms  that  constantly  flow  from  their  own  lips,  and  that  run 
through  the  woid  of  God.  To  this  class  of  men  there  is  pre- 
sented a  set  of  phrases,  carefully  detached  from  all  other  sub* 
jects  and  all  other  similar  uses,  and  they  are  startled,  as  it  were, 
into  an  entire  misapprehension  of  the  forms  of  speech  familiar 
from  their  childhood ;  just  as  a  man,  who  for  the  first  time  looks 
through  a  powerful  microscope,  is  confounded  by  the  appearance 
of  the  insect  that  has  been  buzzing  round  him  all  day  long.  To 
this  class  of  men,  most  of  the  arguments  for  annihilation  are  ad- 
dressed ;  and  from  them  largely,  we  believe,  are  its  adherents 
drawn.  There  are  others,  however,  of  more  reading  and  men- 
tal culture  ;  and  arguments  have  been  written  for  them  also,  — 
arguments  presented  with  much  parade  of  learning,  yet  making 
no  scruple  to  deny  some  of  the  plainest  facts  in  the  history  of 
opinion,  and  to  accumulate  the  most  heterogeneous  monstrosities 
and  incompatible  fallacies  in  interpreting  the  word  of  God. 

It  has  been  found  necessary,  in  the  present  discussion,  to  at- 
tempt the  somewhat  difficult  task  of  meeting  the  wants  of  two 
quite  different  classes,  —  to  frame  an  argument  intelligible  to 
"  plain  people,"  and  satisfactory  to  the  more  scholarly  and  crit- 
ical. It  is  hoped  that  each  class  will  be  indulgent  to  the  other. 
The  writer  would  have  preferred  to  retain  the  work  still  longer 
in  his  hands,  for  improvement  in  various  respects.  But  the 
friends  who  have  called  for  it  are  impatient  of  delay,  and  the 
want  is  thought  to  be  pressing.  His  own  labors  are  meanwhile 
imperatively  demanded  in  other  directions.  He  is  willing,  there- 
fore, to  issue  the  work  as  it  is,  for  the  purpose  of  doing  good, 
rather  than  to  retain  it  for  the  sake  of  higher  elaboration.  Should 
any  portions  of  the  discussion  seem  to  require  further  confirma- 
tion, modification,  expansion,  or  abridgment,  it  may  be  done 
hereafter  as  experience  shall  dictate. 


PREFACE.  v 

In  the  general  correctness  of  h:s  statements,  and  the  entire 
soundness  of  his  main  positions,  the  writer  has  absolute  confi- 
dence. In  the  multiplicity  of  topics  considered,  however,  he 
can  not  hope  to  have  escaped  some  minor  oversights  not  affecting 
the  validity  of  the  argument.  Any  such  blemishes  will  be 
cheerfully  corrected  on  being  pointed  out. 

This  volume  is  not  written  in  reply  to  any  one  writer.  As 
matter  of  fact,  more  allusions  will  be  found  to  the  writings  of  Mr. 
0.  F.  Hudson  than  of  any  other  author ;  for  the  reason  that  Mr. 
Hudson,  having  devoted  the  labor  of  years  to  the  subject,  has 
presented  by  far  the  most  respectable  work  in  advocacy  of  the 
doctrine  of  annihilation.  His  chief  treatise,  "  Debt  and  Grace," 
unquestionably  combines  a  great  amount  of  labor,  and  a  very 
high  degree  of  dexterity  in  the  presentation.  It  has  been  cus- 
tomary for  some  evangelical  writers  to  praise  the  fairness  and 
candor  of  his  discussion  ;  commendations  which  we  can  account 
for  only  on  the  supposition  that  the  writers  have  never  followed 
him,  as  we  have  done,  through  any  considerable  number  of  his 
quotations  and  interpretations.  We  have  made  no  attempt  at  a 
review  and  criticism  of  his  procedures,  except  in  a  few  instances 
where  it  lay  very  directly  in  our  way.  To  do  so  would  require 
a  larger  volume  than  his  own,  and  would  change  the  character 
of  the  discussion. 

We  have  commonly  employed  the  term  "  annihilation  "  to 
designate  the  cessation  of  existence  which  these  writers  advocate. 
We  are  aware  that  many  of  them  object  to  the  term  as  not  be- 
ing fully  expressive  of  their  mode  of  stating  and  arguing  the 
case.  We  would  only  say  that  we  can  not  be  debarred  the  use 
of  a  convenient,  indeed  an  indispensable,  term,  out  of  deference 
to  their  preferences.  We  state  their  views  and  arguments  fairly 
and  fully;  and  it  will  be  found,  we  trust,  that  the  validity  of 
our  reasoning  does  not  at  all  hinge  upon  the  name  by  which  we 
characterize  the  system. 

It  will  be  observed  that  we  do  not  devote  any  of  our  discus- 
sion to  the  natural  evidence  of  immortality.  The  argument 
seemed  to  us  sufficient  without  it.  We  have  shown  that  the 
Scriptures  actually  and  historically  involve  the  doctrine.     We 


vi  PREFACE. 

might,  like  others,  have  taken  the  ground  that  the  Scriptures 
could  assume  it  as  the  belief  of  the  race.  For,  as  matter  of 
fact,  the  race  have  believed  it.  We  certainly  have  testimony 
showing  that  the  expectation  of  another  life  existed  throughout 
the  tribes  of  the  Western  Continent,  from  Greenland  to  Patagonia. 
African  tribes,  New-Zealanders,  Feejees,  Sandwich-Islanders, 
Kamtschadales,  Philippine-Islanders,  Papuans,  Borneans,  Chi- 
nese, have  held  the  belief  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  It  was  tht 
doctrine  of  the  ancieat  Vedas  and  of  the  Egyptian  monuments ; 
it  lies  embedded  in  the  Greek  and  Roman  mythologies ;  it  was 
held  by  Persian,  Etruscan,  Celt,  Gaul,  and  Scandinavian.  In 
modified  forms,  it  is  received  by  five  hundred  million  Brahmin- 
ists  and  Buddhists  to-day.  The  exceptions  are  apparently 
limited  to  two  classes :  First,  perhaps,  certain  tribes  too  de- 
graded to  have  developed  the  full  functions  of  humanity ;  sec- 
ondly, certain  individuals  and  sects  in  very  advanced  states  of 
society,  who  have  deliberately  trained  themselves  as  doubters, 
as  the  Epicureans  of  Greece  and  Rome,  the  Sadducees  of  Judea, 
the  Revolutionists  of  France,  and  the  Annihilationists  of  Eng- 
land and  America. 

How  the  human  race  have  so  universally  attained  this  belief, 
thus  shown  to  be  natural,  it  is  not  important  here  to  indicate 
We  believe  it  to  be  not  so  much  the  result  of  speculative  rea- 
sonings as  of  a  pressure  on  the  moral  nature.  Just  as  God's 
own  existence  is  revealed  practically  to  every  man  in  that  inner 
authority,  that  irrepressible  law  of  right  which  saith,  "  Thou  shalt, 
and  thou  shalt  not ;  "  so  he  intimates  a  future  state  practically, 
by  the  irresistible  apprehensions  of  a  guilty  conscience,  by  the 
yearnings  for  immortality  which  are  restrained  only  by  those 
fears,  and  which  throb  again  in  the  holy,  and  by  the  natural 
sense  of  the  necessity  of  another  state  to  rectify  the  inequalities 
of  this.  These  intuitive  impressions,  no  doubt,  are  subse- 
quently re-enforced  by  arguments  drawn  from  various  sources. 
But  the  conviction  is  older  than  the  arguments. 

Chicago,  June,  1866. 


CONTENTS. 


■  ♦  *  ♦■ 


PART  I. 

REPUTATION   OP    THE   ARGUMENTS   ADVANCED   IN   SUPPORT 
OP  THE   ANNHTILATION   OP  THE   WICKED. 

CHAPTER   I. 

THE   DOCTRINE   OP   ANNIHILATION    STATED. 

The  doctrine  of  eternal  punishment  generally  admitted  to  be  in  the  Bible. 
A  few  deniers,  who  are  in  threefold  conflict  with  each  other, —  Universal- 
ists,  Restorationists,  Annihilationists.  The  latter  differ.  The  whole  ques- 
tion one  of  fact  and  testimony.  God  the  only  witness,  and  the  Scriptures 
his  testimony.  Annihilation  appeals  only  subordinately  to  Scripture,  and 
with  a  narrow  range.    It  depends  on  a  few  perverted  phrases 15 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE    FUNDAMENTAL,    VICE     OP     THE     SCRIPTURE    ARGUMENT    FOR 

ANNIHILATION. 

The  Bible  speaks  in  the  idioms  of  the  common  people :  figurative  on  all 
subjects.  On  one  subject,  annihilationism  materializes.  Jacob  Blain. 
The  process  of  human  speech :  first,  outward  and  physical.  Spiritual 
phenomena  symbolized  by  material.  Examples  from  common  life.  Ma- 
terial interpretation  contradicts  the  real  meaning.  Examples  of  Scripture 
phraseology ;  never  misunderstood  by  common  readers ;  fully  recognized 
on  all  other  subjects ;  wrenched  out  of  all  analogy  on  this.  The  same  pro- 
cess would  find  a  material  God,  and  did  find  an  earthly  Messianic  kingdom 
in  the  Bible 23 

CHAPTER  III. 

IHE   SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  FOR  ANNIHILATION  EXAMINED.  —  DEATH 

AND   LIFE. 

The  words  M  death  "  and  "  life  "  comprehensively  describe  the  two  destinies; 
therefore  are  frequently,  but  not  exclusively  employed.    Every  such  in* 

vii 


Viii  CONTENTS. 

stance  is  quoted  by  annihilationists  to  prove  extinction  of  the  sinner.    1. 
But  they  do  not  even  literally,  and  in  the  lower  sense,  signify  the  contin- 
uance or  cessation  of  existence.    2.  They  also  have  in  all  languages  a 
higher  or  pregnant  sense.    Instances  from  common  life,  classical  usage, 
and  the  Scriptures.    All  involve  a  common  element  of  meaning;  only  the 
Scriptures  propose  a  higher  aim  of  livincj.    3.  In  the  Scriptures,  the  terms 
denote  spiritual  conditions,  with  their  adjuncts  and  issues.    The  terms 
singularly  appropriate  and  natural.     Philo  Judaeus.     The  origin  of  the 
usage  found  in  Gen.  iii.    The  passage  interprets  itself.    This  mode  of  ut- 
terance runs  through  the  Bible ;  life,  eternal  life,  death,  the  second  death. 
Indisputable  instances  considered :  Luke  xv.  24,  32 ;  1  Tim.  v.  6 ;  Matt, 
viii.  22;  Rev.  iii,  1;  Eph.  ii.  1-6;  Col.  ii.  13  (modified  use  of  Eph.  iii.  3; 
Rom.  vi.  1,  11);   John  v.  24:    1  John  iii.  14,  15 ;   John  vi.  47;    Gal.  ii.  19, 
20;  John  xi.  25,  26;  viii.  51;  1  Tim.  vi.  19;  John  iii.  36.     Life  begins  at 
regeneration  (Rom.  vi.  4, 14;  Eph.  v.  14).    Consists  in  the  true  knowledge 
of  God  (John  xvii.  3).    Scholarly  commentators  of  all  classes  accept  this 
interpretation.    Life  may  be  viewed  in  its  beginning  or  its  consummation, 
therefore  under  variant  aspects.    The  whole  usage  sustained  by  the  phrase 
"  kingdom  of  heaven,"  in  all  respects.     Analagous  representations  of  a 
present  sonship  —  a  union  to  Christ  or  separation  from  him  —  health  and 
disease  —  liberty  and  slavery.     This  usage  of  life  and  death  abundant 
In  the  Bible.     The  states  are  very  often  viewed  in  their  consummation, 
as  states  of  pre-eminent  blessedness  or  woe.    No  objection  that  the  words 
are  used  also  in  the  lower  sense  of  physical  life  and  death.    Sarcasms  of 
Blain  and  Hudson  superfluous.    Their  evasive  assumptions,  that  "  life  " 
is  made  merely  synonymous  with  happiness,  and  "  death  "   merely  the 
punishment  of  sin  by  sin.     Chief  method  of  evasion,  prolepsis.     Alleged 
instances  examined,  and  the  argument  refuted.    Hudson  involves  him- 
self in  contradictions,  and  virtually  yields  the  point.    The  case  summed 
up 36 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  —  "DESTRUCTION"  AND 

OTHER  TERMS. 

Annihilationists  attempt  to  press  several  other  words  and  phrases  to  their 
support.  The  attempt  refuted  in  the  following  instances:  destroy  and  de- 
struction; perish  and  perdition ;  lose  and  lost;  consume  and  devour;  tear 
in  pieces,  break  in  pieces;  grind  to  powder;  cut  off;  blot  out;  not  be; 
be  as  nothing ;  be  nought ;  end ;  burn ;  burn  up ;  put  under  his  feet.  The 
futility  of  the  annihilationist  argument  shown  by  numerous  quotations 
from  the  mouth  of  Job,  who,  while  uttering  them,  should  have  been  ex- 
tinct more  than  twenty  times  over 92 


CONTENTS.  ix 


CHAPTER  V. 

TUB    SCRIPTURE   ARGUMENT    EXAMINED.  —  THE   RESURRECTION  AND 

THE    SECOND    DEATH. 

Promises  of  a  blessed  resurrection  perverted  into  promises  of  a  "  resurrec- 
tion state  "  ( John  vi.  39,40;  Luke  xx.  35;  Phil.  iii.  11).  The  fallacy 
refuted,  and  the  tables  turned.  The  fact  of  any  resurrection  for  the 
wicked  an  ominous  difficulty  to  annihilationists.  Confession  of  Mr.  Hud- 
son. Confusion  among  the  advocates :  some  deny  the  fact.  Hudson  re- 
duces it  to  a  minimum.  An  unsuccessful  attempt  to  rise.  The  second 
death.  Alleged  literal  sense.  Hudson  resorts  to  the  Rabbins  of  later 
date,  with  no  clear  usage  nor  definite  result.  The  New  Testament  capable 
of  explaining  itself.  The  phrase  occurs  four  times,  in  one  of  which  ( Rev. 
xxi.  8),  it  is  explained  as  "  having  their  part  "  in  the  lake  of  fire;  else- 
where described  as  a  place  of  perpetual  torment.  This  view  sustained 
by  Rev.  xx.  14, 15.    The  latter  passage  discussed 117 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   RATIONAL  ARGUMENT   EXAMINED. 

The  chief  reliance  of  the  system.  Quotations  from  Hudson  and  Hastings. 
Arguments  from  the  nature  of  evil,  and  the  nature  of  God.  Evil  alleged 
to  be  (1)  not  necessary  in  God's  universe,  (2)  frail  in  its  own  nature. 
Fallaciousness  of  the  positions.  The  argument  from  God's  attributes 
answered  negatively  from  our  incompetency  to  decide  for  him;  and  posi- 
tively from  existing  facts :  sin  is  and  has  been  here  from  the  creation. 
Its  eternal  continuance  involves  no  diiferent  principle.  Common  misap- 
prehension refuted  by  Dr.  Whately, — not  the  amount  of  evil,  but  its  ex- 
istence, constitutes  the  difficulty.  Its  continuance  for  a  time  proves  its 
continuance  for  eternity  to  be  compatible  with  God's  perfections,  if  suffi- 
cient reasons  exist.  Will  the  reasons  cease  V  What  are  they  V  The  pres- 
ent aspect  of  the  case  an  overwhelming  refutation.  The  triumph  over  sin. 
John  Foster  quoted,  and  refuted  by  himself. 129 


PART  II. 

POSITIVE    DISPROOF   OF   THE    DOCTRINE    OF   ANNIHILATION. 

CHAPTER   I. 

BELIEF   OF   A   FUTURE  EXISTENCE  AMONG    THE   EARLIER  JEWS. 

The  inquiry  mportant.  Belief  of  another  state  of  existence  familiar  to  the 
Jews  from  ancient  times.  1.  Their  residence  in  Egypt  must  have 
made  them  conversant  with  it.    It  existed  in  Egypt.    Proof  not  alon« 


X  CONTENTS. 

from  historic  testimony,  but  from  the  surviving  records, —  papyrus-rolls, 
mummy-cases,  tombs.  Wilkinson,  Bunsen,  Lepsius,  Both.  2.  The  He- 
brew doctrine  of  the  soul  lays  a  foundation  for  it.  The  animating  spirit 
everywhere  distinguished  from  the  earthly  body.  Quotations.  3.  An- 
other sphere  of  existence  early  indicated  in  the  translation  of  Enoch ; 
the  testimony  repeated  in  the  case  of  Elijah.  4.  The  patriarchs  are  gath- 
ered to  their  fathers.  The  meaning  of  the  statement  proved  by  incontro- 
vertible cases.  Admitted  by  scholars  of  all  schools.  Baumgarten,  Gerlach, 
Knobel,  Delitzsch.  5.  The  present  life  was  reckoned  a  pilgrimage.  6. 
The  practice  of.  invoking  the  dead  required  to  be  forbidden  by  law.  A 
monarch  violates  the  law  of  his  kingdom.  7.  Distinct  references  are 
made  to  the  other  world  as  a  scene  of  retribution.  Clear  instances.  —  Ps. 
xvi.,  xvii.,  lxviii.,  xlix. ;  Eccl.  xii.  13, 14;  Dan.  xii.  2,  3,  and  others.    143 

CHAPTER  II. 

BELIEF   OF  A  FUTURE   EXISTENCE   AMONG    THE   JEWS   AT    CHRIST'S 

COMING. 

The  fact  susceptible  of  clear  proof  by  secular  and  sacred  writers.  Josephus 
on  the  Pharisees,  Essenes,  and  Sadducees.  His  own  remonstrance  with 
his  comrades,  and  other  passages.  The  attempt  to  impeach  the  testimony 
of  Josephus  refuted  at  large.  The  testimony  of  Tacitus  imperfectly  given 
by  Hudson.  The  testimony  of  Philo,  very  full  and  explicit.  Paul's  al- 
lusion to  the  Jewish  doctrine  (Acts  xxiv.  15).  Other  implications  in  the 
New  Testament  of  the  general  admission  of  a  future  existence  for  all 
(Luke  xx.  27-33;  Acts  xxiii.  5-8;  Matt.  xxii.  23;  John  xi.  24).  John 
the  Baptist  "  risen  "  (Matt.  xiv.  2) 168 

CHAPTER  III. 

NEW    TESTAMENT    TEACHINGS.  —  IMMORTALITY.  —  IMMEDIATE 

DESTINY. 

The  Saviour  and  his  apostles,  finding  the  doctrine  of  twofold  retribution, 
were  not  called  upon  to  announce  the  fact  as  a  new  teaching.  Naturally 
dwelt  on  the  characters  to  which  these  retributions  should  be  assigned. 
Had  no  occasion  to  dilate  on  an  abstract  immortality,  but  only  on  a  con- 
crete retribution.  "  The  immortal  soul : n  cavil  of  Hastings  and  Hudson 
answered.  The  Scripture  view  and  mode  of  speech;  deals  with  the  ac- 
tual fate  of  men  hereafter.  The  Scriptures  affirm  the  conscious  existence 
of  both  classes  after  death,  and  prior  to  the  resurrection.  1.  The  righteous 
(1)  might  enjoy  celestial  glories  without  the  body  (2  Cor.  xii.  3);  (2) 
would  enjoy  them  if  separated  from  the  body  (Phil.  i.  21-24;  2  Cor.  v. 
1-9);  (3)  and  do  enter  on  them  at  once  after  death  (Luke  xxiii.  42,  43). 
Perversions  refuted  (Acts  vii.  55-60);  (4)  spirits  of  departed  believers  are 
with  God  (Heb.  xii.  23;  vi.  12;  Bev.  xiv.  13;  vi.  9-11).    2.  The  wicked 


CONTENTS.  xi 

pass  immediately  to  their  doom.  Analogy  from  the  fate  of  fallen  angels. 
Specific  indications  (Acts  i.  25;  1  Pet.  iii.  18-20;  Luke  xvi.  19-31).  Ob- 
jections and  evasions.  Hudson,  Hastings,  Blain,  Burnham,  Storrs, 
Whately.      2  Pet.  ii.  9 4 189 

CHAPTER  IV. 

NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  —  A  RESURRECTION  AND  A  JUDGMENT 

FOR  THE   WICKED. 

Dsath  leaves  both  classes  of  men  in  a  state  of  existence  and  of  conscious- 
ness. The  Scriptures  follow  them  further,  to  the  judgment  and  the  final 
retribution.  The  doctrine  of  a  general  judgment.  Hinted  at  in  the  Old 
Testament;  revealed  in  the  New.  The  last  day  universal ;  the  wicked 
will  be  present.  The  judgment  preceded  by  the  resurrection  of  the 
wicked  as  well  as  the  good.  Proofs.  Cavils.  The  momentous  signifi- 
cance of  the  resurrection.  Embarrasses  the  annihilationists.  Hastings 
admits  the  difficulty.  Others  deny  the  fact.  Some  evade.  Hudson's  res- 
urrection      231 

CHAPTER  V. 

NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  —  SHARING   THE   DOOM   OF   SATAN. 

Companions  in  the  doom  of  the  wicked;  the  fallen  angels.  Scriptures  de- 
cisive. The  doom  of  fallen  angels  is  suffering,  incessant  and  endless. 
Proof-texts.  Replies  of  Dobney,  Blain,  Ellis  and  Read,  Hudson.  Mar- 
velous interpretations,  —  "  dramatic  "  annihilation.  Satan's  doom.  Bruis- 
ing the  serpent's  head.  The  utterances  of  the  Apocalypse  sustained  by 
the  gospels.    The  abyss;  deep;  bottomless-pit;  lake  of  fire.    Result.    249 

CHAPTER  VI. 

NEW   TESTAMENT     TEACHINGS.  —  DIRECT    DECLARATIONS. — FUTURE 
PUNISHMENT   CONSISTS   IN   SUFFERING. 

The  question  is  not  left  to  inference.  The  Scriptures  unrold  in  detail  the 
meaning  of  their  own  threats.  Degrees  of  punishment  involve  the  fact 
of  conscious  suffering.  The  difficulty  felt.  Reply  of  Dobney,  Hastings, 
and  others.  Its  insufficiency  and  inconsistency.  The  sufferings  of  the 
wicked  vary  like  the  joys  of  the  righteous.  The  direct  statements  of  the 
New  Testament  lay  the  whole  emphasis  of  the  punishment  on  the  suffer- 
ing involved.  Instances.  Whatever  the  figure,  the  suffering  is  the  main 
feature.  "  Outer  darkness  "  attended  with  "  gnashing  of  teeth."  The 
"  furnace  of  fire  ;  "  the  "  portion  with  hypocrites;  "  exclusion  from  the 
kingdom;  all  coupled  with  the  same  description.  "  Torment "  in  the  lake 
of  fire.  Evasions.  The  unquenchable  fire.  Various  evasions  considered. 
Everlasting  punishment.  The  words  vacated  of  their  proper  meaning  by 
annihilationists.    Their  devices  examined.    Other  passages 264 


xii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

NEW   TESTAMENT    TEACHINGS.  —  SUFFERINGS    PROTRACTED  AND 

ENDLESS. 

The  Scriptures  teach  not  only  suffering  in  the  future,  but  that  suffering 
protracted  and  endless.  In  various  modes,  1.  Passages  which  involve 
the  representation  without  using  the  words  "  everlasting,"  etc.  (Matt.  v. 
25;  xviii.  34,  35;  xii.  31,  32).  2.  Passages  which  employ  the  terms 
14  eternal,"  etc.  (Matt.  iii.  12;  Mark  ix.  43-48;  Matt.  xxv.  41,  46;  xviii.  8; 
Jude  7;  2  Thes.  i.  9;  Jude6;  Mark  iii.  29;  Heb.  vi.  1,2;  Jude  13;  2  Pet. 
ii.  17;  Rev.  xiv.  11;  xix.  3;  xx.  10).  The  terms  discussed,  and  evasions 
refuted  at  length.  Limited  duration,  eternity  of  effect,  or  finality,  alleged 
instances  of  "finality"  (Heb.  v.  9;  vi.  2;  ix.  12;  xiii.  20;  Philem.  15; 
Rev.  xiv.  6).  3.  The  suffering  of  the  wicked  coeval  and  co-eternal  with 
the  happiness  of  the  righteous.  Simultaneous  with  it  (Luke  xiii.  24-30; 
Matt.  viii.  11, 12;  Rev.  xxii.  14,  15;  and  other  passages).  Co-eternal 
(Matt.  xxv.  34-41,  46;  2  Thess.  i.  7-11) 298 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

TENDENCIES   AND   AFFINITIES   OF   THF    SYSTEM    OF   ANNIHILATION. 

Theories  show  their  character  in  their  influences  and  affinities.  Time  is 
requisite,  and  freedom  from  outer  restraint.  This  system  too  young  to 
have  a  history.  But  its  tendencies  already  betray  themselves.  1.  Ration- 
alism: a  disposition  to  disparage  and  over-ride  God's  Word.  Quotations 
from  Hudson,  Ellis  and  Read,  Blain,  Hastings,  Burnham.  2.  Sympathy 
with  the  Universalist  and  infidel,  and  concessions  to  them.  Employing 
their  modes  of  argument.  Conceding  the  validity  of  their  positions  as 
against  orthodoxy.  Quotations.  3.  Materialism:  the  denial  of  the  spirit's 
existence.  Storrs,  Blain,  Ellis  and  Read,  openly  renounce  the  belief  of 
any  soul  distinct  from  the  body  and  its  functions.  Quotations.  The  fact 
deprecated  by  Hudson.    4.  Gross  sensualism.    Conclusion 364 


APPENDIX. 

Note  A.    Extracts  on  Life  and  Death 359 

Note  B.    The  meaning  of  Phil.  i.  21-24 361 

Note  C.    Hades 364 

Note  D.    Misinterpretation  of  Dan.  xii.  2 366 

Note  E.     Perversion  of  Rev.  xx.  10 368 

Note  F.     Unquenchable  Fire 374 

Note  G.     The  meaning  of  KoTiaatg 377 

Note  H.     Gehenna 381 

Note  I.    The  Book  of  Enoch  on  future  punishment 385 


LIFE  AND   DEATH   ETERNAL. 


I 


VJT^lVEHSlT 


s*  s4 


LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE  DOCTRINE   OF  ANNIHILATION  STATED. 

THE  great  mass  of  believers  in  the  divine  inspira- 
tion and  authority  of  the  Bible,  in  all  ages,  have 
understood  that  book  plainly  to  assert  the  endless 
misery  of  the  wicked.  Open  rejecters  of  the  divine 
authority  of  the  volume,  men  of  scholarship  and  abil- 
ity, priding  themselves  upon  accepting  no  man's  state- 
ment at  second  hand,  have  also  declared  that  doctrine 
to  be  among  the  things  that  "  Jesus  taught."  *  , 

By  the  general  admission  of  friend  and  foe,  that 
doctrine  is  in  the  Scriptures.  It  is  there,  not  as  the 
central  doctrine  of  the  scheme  of  grace,  nor  as  the 
vital  truth  on  which  depends  the  soul's  regeneration 
and  sanctification,  but  as  the  dark  back-ground  of  that 
scheme  of  grace,  —  a  solemn  feature  of  God's  govern- 
ment, and  a  fact  of  momentous  import  to  the  human 

*  "I  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  taught  eternal  torment:  ...  I  do  not 
accept  it  on  his  authority."  —  Theodore  Parker's  "  Two  Sermons," 
p.  14. 

_84639 


16  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

race.  Its  aspect  is  confessedly  terrific.  The  thought 
of  it  is  appalling,  and  sometimes  confounding,  even  to 
those  who  are  safe  from  its  power ;  while  those  who 
claim  no  such  protection  can  not  fail  to  look  upon  it 
with  dread  and  aversion.  If  the  fact  could  be  set 
aside  from  God's  government  by  the  vote  of  his  sin- 
ning subjects,  it  would  at  once  be  stricken  out  by  an 
overwhelming  majority.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the 
doctrine  should  be  resisted  ;  that  some  should  reject 
the  volume  that  contains  it;  and  that  others,  con- 
strained to  receive  the  book,  should  labor  hard  to 
clear  it  of  the  doctrine.  Accordingly,  in  the  midst  of 
this  general  agreement,  there  have  arisen  from  time  to 
time  individuals  and  bodies  of  men  who  have  denied 
that  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery  is  in  the  word  of 
God. 

But  here  appears  a  singular  phenomenon  :  the  op- 
posers  can  not  agree  among  themselves.  They  are  at 
irreconcilable  odds.  They  say,  "  The  Bible  does  not 
teach  that  the  destiny  of  the  wicked  is  endless  suffer- 
ing." We  ask  them,  "  What,  then,  does  it  declare  to  be 
their  future  destiny  ?  "  And  the  first  and  largest  body 
of  them  answer,  "  Suffering,  we  know  not  how  pro- 
tracted and  severe,  but  final  restoration  to  holiness 
and  happiness."  Another  portion  boldly  say,  "  No  pun* 
ishment  at  all  hereafter  ;  but  all  men  at  death  enter  on 
a  state  of  happiness."  And  here  comes  a  third  section, 
who,  with  equal  boldness  and  positiveness,  aver  that 
God's  word  teaches  neither  the  future  suffering  and 
recovery,  nor  the  immediate  blessedness,  of  the  wicked, 
but  their  complete  extinction.  Antagonism  could  not 
be  more  total  than  it  is  between  the  advocates  of  final 


THE   DOCTRINE    OF  ANNIHILATION  STATED.  17 

Restoration,  of  extreme  Univerealism,  and  of  Annihi- 
lation. The  fact  is  significant:  the  great  body  of 
interpreters,  friend  and  foe,  agreeing  as  to  the  clear 
teaching  of  the  Bible  on  this  subject ;  a  minority 
denying,  but  propounding  instead  three  separate  doc- 
trines, as  contradictory  to  each  other  as  to  that  which 
they  deny ! 

The  present  discussion  concerns  only  the  third  of 
these  three  errors,  —  the  theory  which  teaches  the  anni- 
hilation of  the  impenitent  wicked.  The  fundamental 
doctrine  common  to  the  advocates  of  the  theory  is  this: 
The  death  with  which  God  threatened  sin,  and  which 
actually  became  the  doom  of  the  sinful  race,  was  ab- 
solute extinction  of  being.  Only  believers  in  Christ 
are  delivered  from  this  doom  ;  and  immortality  is 
the  "eternal  life"  which  was  promised  to  his  fol- 
lowers. 

In  the  subordinate  doctrines,  the  advocates  of  anni- 
hilation are  not  agreed.  Most  of  their  writers  hold 
that  this  extinction  of  being  takes  place  when  the 
body  dies ;  the  soul  or  spirit  being  nothing  more 
than  the  life  of  the  man.  Thus  says  Jacob  Blain, 
"  The  Bible  plainly  tells  us  that  men  and  beasts  are 
made  of  the  same  material,  '  dust ; '  and  that  both 
have  the  '  same  breath  ; '  and  that  they  both  die  alike, 
—  but,  mark,  a  resurrection  is  not  told  for  both.'' 
Again  :  u  The  existence  of  a  soul  or  spirit  as  an  entity 
within  us  is  only  inferred  from  a  few  uncertain  texts, 
which  can  be  explained  another  way ;  while  numerous 
plain  texts  and  the  sense  of  the  Bible  are  against  it."* 
Thomas  Read  lays  down  as  one  of  his  main  positions, 

*  Death,  not  Life,  pp.  39,  42. 


18  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

"  The  corporeal  being  and  mortality  of  the  soul,  and 
the  nature  of  the  spirit  of  man ;  which  spirit,  not 
being  a  living  entity,  is  neither  mortal  nor  immortal;" 
and  affirms,  that  "  no  conscious  spirit  or  soul  survives 
the  death  of  man."  *  George  Storrs,  in  discussing  the 
question,  "Does  the  Bible  teach  that  the  creature, 
man  which  the  Lord  God  formed  of  the  dust  of  the 
ground,  has  a  superadded  entity  called  the  soul  ? " 
says,  "  We  take  the  negative;  "  f  and  again :  "  I  regard 
the  phrase  '  immaterial,'  as  one  which  properly  belongs 
to  the  things  which  are  not ;  a  sound  without  sense  or 
meaning ;  a  mere  cloak  to  hide  the  nakedness  of  the 
theory  of  an  immortal  soul  in  man."  J  Zenas  Camp- 
bell declares  that  "  no  Scripture  or  philosophy  has 
ever  yet  been  shown  to  prove  the  mind  any  thing  more 
than  an  attribute  of  the  living,  organized  dust ;  and  if 
so,  it  must  cease  with  the  life  of  the  body."  §  Thus 
the  whole  being  becomes  extinct  at  death.  At  the 
resurrection,  God  re-organizes  the  body,  and  endows  it 
with  its  former  active  and  thinking  powers :  the  right- 
eous then  live  on  for  ever  ;  and  the  wicked  are  again 
blotted  out  of  existence,  —  which  is  the  second  death. 
Some  of  the  writers  speak  doubtfully  about  the  resur- 
rection of  the  wicked,  or  even  deny  it. 

H.  L.  Hastings  not  only  holds  to  the  resurrection  of 
the  wicked,  but  intimates  that  their  complete  extinc- 
tion may  occupy  a  protracted  and  unknown  period 
thereafter.  | 

*  Bible  vs.  Tradition,  pp.  13, 121. 

(■  Discussion  between  Prof.  H.  Mattison  and  George  Storrs,  p.  4. 

J  Six  Sermons,  by  George  Storrs,  p.  29. 

§  The  Age  of  Gospel  Light. 

U  Retribution,  or  The  Doom  of  the  Ungodly,  pp.  77,  153. 


V 

•  „.  1 1  — 

THE  DOCTRINE    OF  ANNIHILATION  STATED  19 

C.  F.  Hudson  teaches  that  the  sentence  is  executed 
in  two  installments,  —  the  dissolution  of  the  body  first, 
then  the  extinction  of  the  soul  at  the  time  of  resur- 
rection. Rejecting  the  extreme  materialism  of  his 
coadjutors,  he  holds  that  the  soul  may  require  the 
body  as  the  necessary  means  of  its  activity.  An  inter- 
mediate state  or  "  detention "  receives  all  souls  on 
parting  from  the  body,  —  a  state  of  inaction,  which,  at 
its  close,  may  seem  to  have  been  but  momentary,  and 
to  which,  in  the  case  of  the  righteous,  he  applies  the 
phrase  "fallen  asleep"  in  Christ;  from  which, at  the 
resurrection,  the  just  are  called  forth  to  be  clothed 
with  a  glorified  body,  and  to  enter  on  immortal  activ- 
ity ;  and  from  which,  like  a  damaged  seed  that  ex- 
hausts its  vitality  and  perishes  in  the  act  of  germina- 
tion, the  unjust  start  up  at  the  voice  of  God  to  become 
extinct  in  the  very  act.* 

The  whole  question  thus  at  issue  is  a  question  of 
fact.  The  only  valid  testimony  concerning  it  must  be 
the  declaration  of  Him  who  holds  the  destiny  of  the 
soul  in  his  hands.  For  as  no  being  on  earth  can  pre- 
tend to  have  witnessed  events  that  lie  still  in  the  fu- 
ture, so  none  can  testify  what  they  shall  be,  except 
Him  on  whose  sole  decision  they  depend.  Nor  can 
any  man,  from  his  general  estimate  of  God's  character, 
affirm  what  definite  thing  God  will  do.  It  would 
require  a  knowledge  of  God's  whole  being,  resources, 
views,  intentions,  of  his  entire  plan  of  government, 
with  all  its  necessities  and  peculiarities,  more  thor- 
oughly exhaustive  than  one  man  ever  yet  possessed 
concerning  a  fellow-man,  his  equal.     To  declare  cou- 

*  Debt  and  Grace,  pp.  263-4. 


20  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

fidently  what  God  will  do  with  the  finally  impenitent, 
aside  from  his  own  declaration,  is  to  put  ourselves  in 
the  place  of  God.  In  the  absence  of  all  communi- 
cations from  him,  the  judgments  of  our  reason  and 
the  anticipations  of  our  moral  nature  would  be  enti- 
tled to  some  respect,  more  or  less.  Reason  has  ex- 
pressed her  apprehensions  of  a  coming  retribution. 
But  to  give  positive  testimony  as  to  the  facts  or  meth- 
ods of  the  case  is  beyond  her  province  ;  much  more, 
to  speak  in  opposition  to  God's  testimony. 

We  repeat  it,  God  is  the  only  competent  witness  on 
this  subject.  If  therefore  we  accept  the  Scriptures  as 
the  word  of  God,  and  if  the  Scriptures  have  spoken  on 
this  subject,  it  is  in  the  highest  degree  reprehensible 
to  draw  our  decisive  views  on  this  subject  from  any 
other  source,  or  to  override  their  fair  testimony  by  any 
other  considerations.  Against  sound  testimony  mere 
speculations  are  never  of  any  account :  against  the 
testimony  of  God  they  are  preposterous. 

Our  appeal,  then,  is  to  the  Scriptures.  The  advo- 
cates of  annihilation  profess  to  make  this  appeal,  but 
often  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  that  the  decisive  con- 
sideration lies  elsewhere.  Thus  Mr.  Hudson,  who  has 
written  far  the  most  elaborate  treatise  in  defense  of 
the  doctrine,  in  a  volume  of  four  hundred  and  seventy 
pages  devotes  but  sixty-seven  to  the  scriptural  argu- 
ment, which  lies  embedded  in  a  great  mass  of  other 
matter,  and  seems  to  form  but  a  limited  part  of  his 
reliance.  Stimulated,  however,  by  the  remark  of  a  re- 
viewer who  called  attention  to  this  circumstance,  the 
same  writer  subsequently  published  a  separate  volume 
of  Scripture  arguments  "  to  meet  the  convenience  of 


THE  DOCTRINE    OF  ANNIHILATION  STATED.  21 

those  who  rely,  for  their  views  of  future  life,  upon  their 
reading  and  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures ."  In 
the  preface,  from  which  we  quote,  he  also  adds,  that 
lie  "  doubts  if  an  exclusively  scriptural  argument  will 
prove  satisfactory  to  very  many,  however  clearly  it 
may  appear  to  be  made  out."*  This  is  a  confession 
indeed.  The  treatises  of  Blain  and  others,  though  in 
form  more  scriptural,  are  sprinkled  with  remarks 
which  indicate  that  certain  rational  considerations  are 
allowed  great  weight  in  determining  the  question. 
These  considerations  will  receive  some  attention  in  the 
course  of  this  discussion.  But  the  first  business  is  to 
examine  the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures. 

Now,  all  the  plausibility  there  is  in  the  scriptural  ar- 
gument for  annihilation  consists  of  two  main  features: 
first,  the  constant  restriction  of  the  phrase  "  eternal 
life,"  with  its  opposite,  "  death,"  to  denote  simply  con- 
tinued existence  and  cessation  of  existence  respectively, 
in  violation  alike  of  the  common  use  and  the  clear 
Scripture  use  of  the  words  ;  and,  secondly,  the  attempt 
to  confine  certain  other  expressions,  setting  forth  the 
punitive  anger  of  God  in  vivid  and  terrific  material 
imagery,  down  to  the  lowest  sensual  aspect  of  those 
figurative  expressions.  Among  these  phrases  are  the 
following :  to  be  destroyed  or  lost,  to  perish,  to  be 
devoured,  to  be  consumed,  slain,  cut  off,  torn  in  pieces, 
broken  to  pieces,  dashed  in  pieces,  crushed,  ground  to 
powder,  burned,  or  burned  up,  cut  in  sunder,  to  be  as 
nothing,  to  be  as  ashes,  to  be  put  away  as  dross  ;  per- 
dition, end,  corruption.  All  these  diverse,  and,  if  lit- 
erally taken,  conflicting  modes  of  representation   are 

*  Christ  our  Life,  preface,  p.  3. 


22  LIFE   AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

cited  as  conveying  the  one  meaning  of  annihilation. 
These  several  modes  of  expression  will  be  examined 
in  due  time.  Meanwhile  it  becomes  necessary  to  say 
something  concerning  the  genuine  methods  of  repre- 
sentation employed  in  the  Scriptures,  and  concerning 
the  radical  fallacy  with  which  those  representations 
are  treated  by  the  advocates  of  annihilation. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    FUNDAMENTAL   VICE  OP    THE    SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT 

FOR  ANNIHILATION. 

THE  Scriptures  everywhere  speak  in  the  language 
of  the  people.  They  never  employ  metaphysical 
terms ,  but  constantly  set  forth  the  most  thoroughly 
spiritual  facts  by  means  of  such  sense  images  as  the 
common  people  always  use  and  understand.  It  is  a 
book  not  for  the  metaphysicians,  but  for  the  millions. 
Its  language  and  idioms  throughout  are  conformed  to 
those  of  the  multitude.  As  it  is  the  universal  custom  to 
speak  of  men  as  elevated,  cast  down,  sunk,  overthrown, 
wounded,  stung,  cut  to  the  heart,  broken,  broken 
down,  broken  up,  devoured,  consumed,  eaten  up,  shat- 
tered, crushed,  and  the  like,  to  denote  purely  spiritual 
phenomena,  which  leave  the  entire  being  of  the  man 
unimpaired  ;  precisely  so  the  Scriptures  speak  in  the 
language  of  men.  Abundant  expressions  of  this  gen- 
eral nature  are  found  extending  through  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments.  Indeed,  it  is  mostly  by  such  figura- 
tive expressions,  —  and  that  too,  as  will  presently  be 
shown,  from  the  necessity  of  the  case,  —  that  all  the 
leading  truths  concerning  God's  dealings  and  man's 
destiny  are  communicated.  They  are  employed,  not 
alone  Tespecting  the  destiny  of  the  wicked,  but  con- 
cerning the  enjoyments  of  the  righteous,  and  all  the 
other  themes  of  the  word  of  God. 

23 


24  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

Now,  the  grand  mistake  of  the  system  under  dis- 
cussion is,  that  its  advocates  single  out  one  topic  from 
the  whole  mass  of  themes,  and  violate  here  the  whole 
usage  of  the  Bible  to  maintain  their  tenet.  Men  who 
see  in  a  moment  the  folly  of  understanding  literally 
the  statement  that  David's  soul  "thirsteth,"  "panteth," 
"  melteth,"  and  is  "  poured  out,"  or  that  the  righteous 
are  to  attend  a  great  wedding-feast,  where  they  shall 
eat  and  drink,  and  recline  in  Abraham's  bosom,  lay 
aside  all  the  settled  laws  of  speech  when  they  reach 
this  one  subject,  —  the  future  destiny  of  the  wicked. 
Terms  that  are  plainly  metaphorical,  or  terms  that  are 
used  in  a  secondary  or  pregnant  sense,  they  insist  on 
forcing  down  to  a  narrow  and  sensuous  meaning,  which 
is  inconsistent  alike  with  the  general  tenor  of  Scrip- 
ture phraseology,  and  with  the  use  of  these  very  phrases 
in  other  passages.  On  this  one  subject,  the  future  des- 
tiny of  the  wicked,  they  persistently  degrade  all  phrase- 
ology to  a  gross,  material  meaning.  If  a  term  has  both  a 
lower  and  a  higher  signification,  in  this  connection  the/ 
insist  upon  the  lower.  If  a  term  significant  of  spiritual 
facts  had  a  sensuous  origin,  —  as  nearly  all  such  terms 
have  had,  —  they  maintain  that  the  sensuous  meaning 
must  still  cling  to  it.  If  a  figure  of  speech  vividly 
presenting  the  vehemence  of  God's  vengeance,  and  the 
intensity  of  its  impression,  be  drawn  —  as  from  the 
nature  of  the  case  it  must  be  —  from  objects  "and 
scenes  in  which  intensity  of  action  produces  disorgani- 
zation, the  system  seizes  on  that  mere  material  and  in- 
cidental feature,  the  disorganization,  and  refuses  to 
see  all  the  deeper  significance  of  the  description.  It 
takes  nothing  but  the  husk.     No  language,  much  less 


FUNDAMENTAL    VICE    OF   THE  ARGUMENT.  25 

an  oriental  tongue,  will  bear  such  treatment.  It  is 
simply  a  materializing  of  human  speech  ;  rather  it 
takes  away  the  life,  and  leaves  but  the  carcass. 

A  notable,  though  somewhat  extreme  illustration  of 
this  process  appears  in  the  argument  of  Mr.  Blain  in 
regard  to  the  nature  of  the  spirit,  or  soul.  He  finds 
that  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  words  meaning  spirit  (one 
of  which  he  invariably  misspells)  have  an  original 
meaning  of  "  breath,"  that  the  Greek  word  "  soul," 
sometimes  means  life ;  and  on  this  basis,  in  defiance 
of  the  insuperable  evidence  to  the  contrary,  and  with 
a  heavy  rebuke  of  our  "  careless  translators,"  and  the 
"  folly  of  our  popular  expositions,"  he  boldly  maintains 
that  the  Bible  declares  the  spirit  to  be  but  the  breath, 
and  the  soul  but  the  life,  of  the  body.*  The  argument, 
of  course,  is  precisely  the  same  as  if  one  should  maintain, 
that,  because  the  English  words  "  spirit  "  and  "  soul  " 
are  derived  from  words  signifying  to  breathe  and  to 
blow,  therefore  the  whole  body  of  English  theologians 
believe  the  soul,  or  spirit,  to  be  but  the  breath ;  and 
that,  when  the  heart  is  spoken  of  as  the  fountain  of 
sin  and  the  seat  of  holiness,  we  mean  to  refer  those 
qualities  to  that  physical  organ  in  the  human  body 
which  carries  on  the  circulation  of  the  blood. 

It  may  be  well  to  glance  at  the  process  of  human 
speech  in  all  such  subjects.  The  primary  reference  of 
all,  or  nearly  all,  language  seems  to  have  been  outward 
and  physical.  Outward  observation  is  the  earliest  and 
most  universal  exercise  of  the  human  faculties.  Ma- 
terial things  require  first  to  be  named,  and  material 
acts  to  be  described.      Accordingly,  the   basis  of  all 

*  Death,  not  Life,  pp.  27-42. 


26  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

speech  is  sensuous,  and  its  primary  meaning  external 
and  concrete.  Intellectual  and  spiritual  existences, 
facts,  and  transactions,  more  slowly  attract  the  atten- 
tion, and  are  with  more  difficulty  apprehended  and  de- 
scribed. In  thinking  of  them,  men  are  accustomed 
to  aid  their  thoughts  by  viewing  them  under  the  anal- 
ogies of  the  material  things  so  much  more  familiar  to 
them.  Under  such  analogies,  they  represent  them  to 
others.  Thus  it  has  come  to  pass  that  the  terms  which 
now  undeniably  designate  spiritual  phenomena,  are 
words  originally  of  physical  origin  and  use,  transferred 
to  a  secondary  and  higher  meaning.  Sometimes  they 
have  entirely  lost  their  primary  reference ;  sometimes 
they  retain  it  in  connection  with  the  other  and  higher 
meanings.  So,  also,  the  longer  forms  of  statement, 
whereby  mental  states,  emotions,  acts,  and  results  are 
set  forth,  are  almost  of  necessity  analogical.  It  is  pe- 
culiarly so  in  the  more  concrete  and  simple  languages, 
and  in  addresses  of  a  popular  cast.  Indeed  it  would 
puzzle  a  metaphysician  to  describe  a  state  of  high  men- 
tal emotion  in  any  other  way.  His  statements,  when 
analyzed,  would  prove  to  be  a  series  of  physical  meta- 
phors, while  yet  he  is  speaking  of  mental  phenomena. 

Thus,  to  perceive,  was,  by  origin,  to  take  through  ; 
to  conceive,  to  take  together ;  to  imagine,  to  have  an 
image  ;  to  apprehend,  to  lay  hold  of;  to  reflect,  to  turn 
back ;  to  excite,  to  summon  forth  ;  to  provoke,  to  call 
forth.  So  with  a  multitude  of  words  of  Latin  origin. 
In  the  Saxon  usage,  a  man  of  hot  blood  is  a  passionate 
man  ;  a  man  of  good  blood  is  of  good  descent,  or  an- 
cestry ;  a  man  of  nerve  is  a  firm  man.  Heart  stands 
continually  for  affection  or  feeling,  and  brain  for  intel- 


FUNDAMENTAL    VICE   OF    THE  ARGUMENT.  27 

lect.  Stiff-necked  is  obstinate.  To  be  keen,  sharp, 
dull,  heavy,  to  have  a  long  head,  a  thick  skin,  a 
heavy  hand,  a  sharp  tongue,  a  foul  mouth,  are  desig- 
nations of  intellectual  and  moral  traits,  though  the 
form  of  speech  has  a  purely  physical  aspect.  A  man 
is  broken  down  with  sorrow,  crushed  with  calamity, 
lacerated  with  grief,  rent  with  anguish,  melted  with 
emotion,  when  every  faculty  of  mind  and  body  is  sound 
and  whole.  He  is  prostrated  with  fear,  is  irretrievably 
fallen,  is  ruined,  not  in  body  but  in  soul,  when  yet 
the  substance  and  all  the  powers  of  his  soul  remain 
untouched.  He  is  eaten  up  by  avarice,  racked  with 
anxiety,  devoured  by  ambition,  consumed  with  lust, 
sunk  in  vice,  drowned  in  sorrow,  burned  up  with  fierce 
and  evil  passions, —  and  that,  too,  when  his  being  and 
all  its  essential  functions  are  so  far  from  extinct,  that 
they  are  in  a  state  of  the  most  intense  activity. 

These  last-mentioned  phrases  illustrate,  to  one  who 
has  through  all  his  life  heard  and  used  such  common  idi- 
oms of  speech  without  ever  having  carefully  examined 
them,  several  important  principles  :  First,  that  the  use 
of  strongly  sensuous  expressions  concerning  immaterial 
facts  and  phenomena  is  in  no  danger  of  misleading 
the  common  mind,  but  is  the  necessary  mode  of  setting 
forth  those  subjects  in  their  intensity.  Second,  that 
ai:  assertion  couched  in  figurative  language  is  just  as 
real  and  substantial  as  one  made  in  more  literal  terms, 
only  more  significant.  Third,  that  a  low  and  material 
construction  of  such  phrases  gives  a  result  in  direct 
contradiction  to  their  real  and  well-understood  mean- 
ing. Fourth,  that,  from  the  very  nature  of  material 
objects,  no  vivid   comparison   or   illustration   can   be 


28  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

drawn  from  them  to  spiritual  things,  without  involving 
some  incidental  element  that  could  be  pressed  into 
direct  opposition  to  the  true  intent  of  the  comparison 
as  a  whole.  Now,  it  would  be  idle  to  explain  to  any 
man,  that,  in  the  phrases  above  cited,  the  words 
"  crushed,"  "  ruined,"  "  consumed,"  "  devoured," 
"  eaten  up,"  "  drowned,"  do  not  imply  extinction.  It 
would  be  ridiculous  to  argue  that  they  do  ;  and  yet 
this  is  precisely  the  kind  of  reasoning  with  which  anni- 
hilationism  encounters  the  Bible.  The  words  do  not 
even  imply  suspension  of  functions,  but  the  greatest 
activity. 

The  gross  fallacy  of  dealing  thus  with  the  language 
of  the  Scriptures  becomes  still  more  apparent  when  we 
look  more  closely  at  their  peculiar  style  of  speech. 
The  language  of  the  Old  Testament,  both  in  its  indi- 
vidual terms  and  more  extended  forms  of  expression, 
is  remarkably  concrete  and  sensuous.  Intellectual  and 
moral  qualities,  acts,  and  results  are  constantly  repre- 
sented in  physical  modes.  From  a  vast  multitude  of 
instances  consider  the  following,  many  of  them  lost  in 
the  translation.  The  common  word  for  anger  prima- 
rily means  nostrils  ;  fierce  anger  was  a  burning  ;  fer- 
vent prayer,  a  heat ;  pains,  wri things ;  possession 
(sometimes),  a  measuring-line ;  honor,  weight ;  afflic- 
tions, straits  ;  prosperity,  a  large  place  ;  a  man's  con- 
duct, his  way  or  path  ;  his  presence,  his  face  ;  right 
conduct,  straight  paths  ;  innocency,  clean  hands  ;  pride, 
a  high  look.  The  word  signifying  to  transgress  means 
primarily  to  miss  the  mark  ;  to  bless  or  pray,  to  kneel; 
to  worship,  to  prostrate  one's  self;  to  mourn,  to  smite 
[the  breast]  ;  to  exult,  to  move  in  a  circle  or  dance ; 


FUNDAMENTAL    VICE   OF   THE  ARGUMENT.  29 

to  swear,  to  seven  one's  self,  or  use  the  sacred  number ; 
to  begin,  to  perforate  or  open  ;  to  favor  or  delight  in,  to 
curve  towards  ;  to  listen,  to  make  sharp  [the  ears] ; 
to  natter,  to  make  smooth  [the  tongue]  ;  to  slander 
(in  one  instance  at  least),  to  walk  with  or  upon  the 
tongue.  To  spy  out  a  land  was  to  travel  over  it,  or 
to  dig  through  it.  To  exact  usury  was  to  bite,  then  to 
vex.  Ardent  desire  was  a  thirsting  or  panting  of  the 
soul ;  vehement  affection,  a  yearning  of  the  bowels. 
Oppression  of  the  poor  (Isa.  iii.  15)  is  literally  to 
grind,  or  still  more  literally  to  beat  small,  their  faces 
or  persons.  When  David  prays  (Ps.  li.  2),  "  Wash 
me  thoroughly  from  mine  iniquity,"  he  uses  a  word 
which  is  understood  to  have  originally  signified  to 
trample  with  the  feet  in  washing.  A  strictly  literal 
translation  of  the  phrase  (Dan.  vi.  24),  "  those  men 
which  had  accused  Daniel,"  would  be,  "  who  ate  the 
pieces  of  Daniel."  When  men  were  utterly  dismayed 
and  dispirited  (Josh.  vii.  5  ;  ii.  11),  their  "  hearts  melt- 
ed, and  became  as  water."  If  the  children  of  Israel 
are  exhorted  to  be  pure  and  obedient,  they  are  (Deut. 
x.  16)  to  "  circumcise  the  foreskin  of  their  heart,  and  be 
no*  more  stiff-necked."  It  was  prophesied  (Num.  xxiv. 
8)  that  Israel  should  "  eat  up  the  nations  his  enemies, 
and  break  [literally,  craunch]  their  bones."  David  cel- 
ebrates the  completeness  of  his  triumph,  when  he  was 
delivered  "  out  of  the  hand  of  all  his  enemies,  and  out 
of  the  hand  of  Saul"  (2  Sam.  xxii.  1),  by  the  strong 
"figure  (ver.  43),  "  Then  did  I  beat  them  as  small  as 
the  dust  of  the  earth  ;  I  did  stamp  them  as  the  mire  of 
the  street,  and  did  spread  them  abroad."  When  the 
wicked  persecute   the  righteous   (Ps.  xiv.  4),   they 


*0  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

'eat  up  my  people  as  they  eat  bread."  In  Mic.  iii.  2, 
>,  the  oppression  of  evil  rulers  is  described  with  star- 
tling minuteness  of  imagery  :  "Who  pluck  off  their  skin 
irom  off  them,  and  their  flesh  from  off  their  bones  ;  who 
also  eat  the  flesh  of  my  people,  and  flay  their  skin  from 
jff  them ;  and  they  break  their  bones,  and  chop  them 
,1>.  pieces  as  for  the  pot,  and  as  flesh  within  the  cal- 
^wn."  To  be  terrified  or  dismayed  is  commonly  ex- 
)oi  ossed  (Job  vii.  14  ;  Josh.  i.  9,  &c.)  by  a  word  which 
*h  orally  means  and  is  elsewhere  translated  (Isa.  ix.  4  ; 
yh  v.  li.  56}  to  be  broken,  or,  more  fully,  to  be  broken 
\i  pieces. 

The  dealings  of  God  are  described  in  a  similar  way. 
O  tfamities  are  his  plagues,  literally  blows  ;  he  swal- 
lows up  the  wall  of  Jerusalem  (Lam.  ii.  8)  ;  he  makes 
Ivs  arrows  drunk  with  blood,  and  his  sword  devours 
flesh  (Deut.  xxxii.  42)  ;  and  Jeremiah  says  of  him, 
'  He  hath  broken  my  bones,"  "  He  hath  pulled  me  in 
pieces,"  "  Thou  hast  slain,  thou  hast  not  pitied  "  (Lam. 
iii.  4,  11,  43). 

The  meaning  of  these  and  a  great  multitude  of  sim- 
ilar expressions  is  perfectly  clear.  To  adhere  to  the 
drimary  meaning  of  the  words  and  phrases  is  not 
ilone  utterly  to  miss  the  real  meaning  of  the  writer, 
but,  in  some  instances,  to  convert  the  whole  into  an  ab- 
surdity. Thus,  Daniel  was  alive  and  well  after  his 
enemies  had  eaten  his  pieces.  The  Israelites  certainly 
were  not  cannibals.  The  inhabitants  of  Canaan  had 
not  received  the  slightest  physical  hurt,  only  a  terrible 
aiarm,  when  their  hearts  melted,  and  there  did  not  re- 
main any  more  spirit  [so  the  original,  Josh.  ii.  11]  in 
any  man.     Jeremiah  and  his  fellows  were  still  alive  to 


FUNDAMENTAL    VICE   OF   TEE  ARGUMENT.  31 

make  their  complaint,  though  part  of  their  lamenta- 
tion was,  that  they  were  pulled  in  pieces  and  slain,  and 
even  (Lam.  iii.  53)  that  "  they  have  cut  off  my  life  in 
the  dungeon,  and  cast  a  stone  upon  me."  God's  mak- 
ing his  arrows  drunk  with  blood,  and  devouring  flesh 
with  his  sword,  and  his  swallowing  up  the  wall  of  Je- 
rusalem, no  man  presses  further  than  to  express  a  fear- 
ful vengeance  such  as  those  acts  vividly  set  forth.  Nor 
do  such  expressions  indicate  a  single  and  transient  ac- 
tion, but  often  a  prolonged  course  of  punishment. 

Here  comes  to  view,  then,  the  principle  underlying 
the  Scripture  representations  even  of  transactions  the 
most  spiritual,  including  alike  men's  innermost  experi- 
ences, and  God's  relations  and  proceedings  towards 
men.  They  are  all  set  forth  by  such  material  phe- 
nomena as  are  well  known  and  powerfully  impressive  ; 
but  only  certain  aspects  of  those  phenomena  are  had  in 
view,  to  the  entire  exclusion  of  certain  others  which 
may  be,  in  fact,  connected  with  them.  As  the  most 
vivid  image  of  firmness,  stability,  and  shelter,  God  is 
called  "  a  rock ;  "  although  a  perverse  ingenuity  might 
torture  out  of  the  same  image  the  meaning  of  indiffer- 
ence and  insensibility.  His  vigilance,  and  power  to 
protect  his  friends  and  defeat  his  foes,  are  strongly  set 
forth,  when  it  is  said,  "  The  Lord  is  a  man  of  war  ;  " 
but  all  other,  even  the  more  common  qualities  of  an 
actual  human  warrior  of  those  days,  are  excluded  from 
the  thought.  He  bestows  upon  his  friends  a  fearless 
strength  when  he  "  exalts  their  horn  like  the  horn  of 
an  unicorn  :  "  with  that  one  trait  all  resemblance  ends. 
Sometimes  God  is  compared  to  the  "  fierce  lion  "  (Job 
iv.  10;  Isa.  xxxi.  4),  and   is  described  as  tearing  in 


32  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

pieces  (Lam.  iii.  10,  11),  breaking  the  bones  (Isa. 
xxxviii.  13),  devouring  his  prey,  and  rending  the 
caul  of  their  heart  (Hos.  xiii.  7,  8)  ;  but  here,  assur- 
edly, the  irresistibleness  and  terribleness  of  his  punish- 
ments are  the  qualities  in  view,  while,  of  course,  the 
bloodthirstiness  and  cruelty  of  the  actual  beast  of  prey, 
and  its  bodily  laceration  of  its  victim,  are  wholly  out 
of  the  question.  Sometimes  the  terror  of  his  anger  is 
denoted  by  the  tempest,  the  lightning,  and  the  fire 
(Ps.  xviii.  7-17).  Its  awfully  overwhelming  power  is 
represented  by  the  wind  driving  the  chaff  before  it 
(Ps.  i.  4),  or  the  flame  sweeping  through  the  stubble 
(Mai.  iv.  1).  The  completeness  of  his  victory  is  sym- 
bolized in  various  ways :  he  is  the  warrior,  setting  his 
foot  on  the  neck  of  his  enemies  (Ps.  ex.  1),  or  ruling 
with  a  rod  of  iron  (Ps.  ii.  9).  He  is  the  vintager, 
treading  down  the  people  in  the  wine-press  of  wrath, 
and  trampling  them  in  his  fury,  the  blood  staining  all 
his  raiment  (Isa.  lxiii.);  yea,  the  "  blood  came  out  of  the 
wine-press  even  unto  the  horses'  bridles,  by  the  space 
of  a  thousand  and  six  hundred  furlongs''  (Rev.  xiv.' 
20).  He  is  the  stone  grinding  them  to  powder  (Matt, 
xxi.  44).  "He  shall  swallow  them  up  in  his  wrath, 
and  the  fire  shall  devour  them"  (Ps.  xxi.  9),  —  two 
incompatible  processes  combined  in  one  image  of  ter- 
ror. His  enemies  are  brought  to  naught ;  they  are 
nothing;  they  are  put  away  as  dross;  they  consume 
into  smoke;  they  are  trodden  down,  and  are  as  ashes 
under  his  feet ;  the  remembrance  of  them  is  cat  off 
from  the  earth  ;  their  "place  shall  not  be." 

Now,  any  one  who  casts  his  eye  over  these  collected 
representations  should  see,  even  without  any  detailed 


FUNDAMENTAL    VICE    OF   THE  ARGUMENT.  33 

exposition,  that  the  one  common  element  in  them  all 
is  the  simple  idea  of  a  terrific  overthrow  and  punish- 
ment, overwhelming,  resistless.  That  one  fact  stands 
out  perfectly  distinct  through  all  these  varied  symbols  ; 
and  that  alone.  Press  the  imagery  down  to  any  lower 
point,  and  you  make  the  representations  incompatible 
vrilh  each  other ;  some  of  them  absurd,  and  some  of 
them  intolerable.  What  shall  we  say  of  the  stream  of 
blood  bridle-deep,  and  two  hundred  miles  long  ?  Dare 
we  assign  it  any  more  definite  idea  than  that  of  a  ter- 
rible vengeance  ?  but  that  one  thought  it  fearfully 
sets  forth.  What  shall  we  say  of  swallowing,  pulling 
in  pieces,  and  rending  the  caul  of  the  heart  ?  Dare 
we  press  it  further  than  to  mean  an  overthrow  and 
punishment  as  helpless  and  complete  as  when  a  torn 
victim  is  undergoing  this  dismemberment  by  some  re- 
sistless beast  of  prey  ?  Putting  them  away  as  dross, 
treading  them  down,  driving  them  as  chaff,  even  cut- 
ting off  the  remembrance  of  them,  cutting  off  their 
place,  are  no  images  of  annihilation  ;  but  these  and  all 
the  others  are  obvious  and  striking  representations  of 
helpless,  hopeless  overthrow. 

The  principle  thus  brought  to  view  is  the  selection 
of  the  most  striking  facts  of  the  outward  world  to  rep- 
resent spiritual  transactions,  and  the  fixing  of  the 
mind  upon  some  one  prominent  aspect  of  the  material 
image  to  the  exclusion  of  all  its  other  bearings ;  and 
that,  too,  while  the  material  image  rigidly  pressed  in 
all  its  possible  bearings,  and  especially  its  lower  ones, 
would  contradict  the  real  meaning  of  the  writer.  And 
let  it  be  noted,  that,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  it  is 
impossible  to  select  any  material  symbol  in  which  such 


34  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

intense  action  as  is  here  represented  shall  not  be  inci- 
dentally attended  with  disorganization.  No  compari- 
son can  hold  except  in  certain  respects ;  much  less 
can  any  perfect  analogy  be  found  between  things  sen- 
sual and  things  spiritual.  The  sacred  writers  could 
not  select  any  material  symbols  of  God's  anger  and  its 
effects,  which  should  be  free  from  the  incidental  fea- 
ture of  transientness  and  perishableness. 

Now,  here  the  annihilationist  steps  in,  and  insists,  in 
every  instance,  on  passing  by  the  clear  and  striking 
point  of  the  representation  to  fix  only  on  this  inciden- 
tal and  unavoidable  defect  growing  out  of  the  nature 
of  the  case,  and  cuts  down  all  these  varied  and  im- 
pressive representations  to  a  mere  dissolution,  or  rather 
annihilation.  He  does  it  in  defiance  of  the  whole  usage 
of  Scripture,  which  employs  these  and  kindred  terms, 
as  we  have  seen  and  shall  see  further,  concerning  per- 
sons and  bodies  of  men  still  extant,  with  every  faculty 
of  body  and  soul  in  full  vigor. 

In  precisely  the  same  manner  in  whicli  the  annihila- 
tion argument  is  conducted,  and  with  equal  strength, 
an  ingenious  disputant  might  show  that  God  is  en- 
dowed with  eyes,  ears,  arms,  hands,  feet,  a  nose,  mouth, 
tongue,  heart ;  is  armed  with  weapons,  —  sword,  bow, 
spear,  shield;  rides  in  a  chariot;  tiavels  from  place  to 
place ;  possesses  all  the  passions  and  modes  of  think- 
ing and  acting  of  an  exalted  man  ;  has  children  ;  lives 
in  a  splendid  mansion  ;  and  the  like. 

On  the  same  principle,  the  Pharisees  looked  for  a 
warrior-Christ,  coming  with  a  splendid  earthly  retinue 
and  pomp  to  crush  out  all  human  oppressors  and  exalt 
the  Jewish  nation  to  the  hight  of  earthly  power.     It 


FUNDAMENTAL    VICE  OF   THE  ARGUMENT.  35 

was  the  same  spirit  of  gross  and  sensual  interpretation, 
abandoning  the  spirit  for  the  letter,  the  kernel  for  the 
husk. 

This  principle  of  interpretation  is  a  false  one, — 
specious,  perhaps,  to  those  who  look  only  on  the  sur- 
face of  speech  and  only  at  this  one  theme  in  the 
Scriptures,  but  refuted  by  the  commonest  usage  of 
language,  by  the  entire  method  of  Scripture  expression, 
and  by  the  plain  and  frequent  meaning  of  these  very 
forms  of  speech. 

Having  looked  at  the  fallacy  of  the  fundamental 
principle,  we  shall  now  proceed  to  consider  the  details. 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED:   DEATH  AND  LIFE. 

IF  it  can  be  shown  that  the  doctrine  of  a  future  ex- 
istence was  the  received  doctrine  of  the  Israelitish 
nation,  it  would  be  proper  to  insist  that  all  the  phrase- 
ology quoted  by  annihilationists  must  be  understood  as 
modified  or  controlled  by  that  supposition.  But  we 
are  perfectly  willing,  for  the  present,  to  waive  that 
important  consideration,  and  to  examine  those  phrases 
on  the  simple  ground  of  Scripture  usage. 

The  chief  stronghold  of  the  system  under  exami- 
nation is  founded  upon  the  use  of  the  words  "  death  " 
and  "  life  "  in  the  Scriptures.  Mr.  Hudson  correctly 
remarks,  that  these  are  the  terms  most  commonly  used 
to  represent  the  respective  destinies  of  men.  And  for 
a  good  reason :  they  are  brief,  striking,  and  singularly 
comprehensive.  Still  they  are  not,  by  any  means,  the 
only  modes  of  representation :  but  the  destiny  of  the 
wicked  is  frequently  described  in  very  varied  forms  of 
speech,  expressive  of  the  deepest  positive  suffering; 
and  the  future  condition  of  the  righteous  is  represented 
as  one  of  comfort  and  joy. 

Now,  every  instance  in  which  death  is  threatened 
to  the  sinner  is  quoted  as  proof  of  his  annihilation. 
It  is,  says  Mr.  Blain,  "  extinction  of  being,  soul,  and 
body."     Says  Mr.  Dobney,  death  is  "  a  return  to  that 

36 


THE   SCRIPTURE   ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  31 

state  of  blank  nothingness  from  which  the  Almighty 
fiat  had  so  recently  called "  our  first  parents  ;  while 
the  promised  life  is  "  existence  only,"  or,  as  he  waver- 
ingly  adds  in  parenthesis,  "  at  all  events,  chiefly." 
Mr.  Hudson  has  much  to  say  of  the  necessity  of  hold- 
ing to  the  literal  sense  of  these  terms,  although  he 
noticeably  refrains  from  saying,  in  so  many  words,  that 
life  is  mere  existence ;  while  yet,  as  we  shall  see,  the 
meaning  that  his  argument  requires  is  not  the  literal 
sense  of  the  terms.  Meanwhile  every  passage  in  which 
death  or  dying  is  threatened  to  the  sinner  is  quoted  as 
proof  of  annihilation.  Mr.  Blain  accumulates  upwards 
of  fifty  texts  from  the  Scriptures :  Mr.  Hudson  pushes 
the  matter  further  still,  and  adduces  all  the  passages 
he  finds  among  the  early  Christian  fathers,  containing 
these  phrases,  to  prove  that  they  held  the  doctrine  of 
annihilation.  And  yet  he  is  obliged  to  admit  that 
"  these  terms  are  sometimes  used  in  a  tropical  sense  ;"  * 
and  Mr.  Dobney  will  not  "  deny  that  '  life '  may 
sometimes  be  used  in  the  sense  alleged,"  that  is,  in  a 
higher  or  pregnant  sense. f 

But  the  attempt  to  prove  the  doctrine  of  annihilation 
from  the  threats  of  death  to  the  sinner,  and  promises 
of  eternal  life  to  the  believer,  can  not  sustain  an  exami- 
nation. 

1.  Death  does  not  literally  mean,  nor  does  it  include, 
extinction  of  being,  cessation  of  existence,  or  even 
dissolution ;  nor  is  life,  in  its  lower  sense,  simply  synon- 
ymous with  existence.  The  distinction  between  the 
animate  and  inanimate  is  not  between  the  existent  and 

*  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  172. 

t  The  Scripture  Doctrine  of  Future  Punishment,  p.  168. 


38  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

the  non-existent.  Here  are  two  trees :  one  is  dead, 
and  the  other  is  alive,  but  they  both  are  in  existence, 
and  both  are  trees.  Death  does  not  itself  signify  even 
decay  or  dissolution ;  for  the  dead  tree  is  still  entire. 
A  dead  body  is  still  a  body,  though  dead.  It  is  still 
in  existence  :  it  exists  as  a  body,  sometimes  for  two  or 
three  thousand  years,  —  not  a  living  body,  still  a  body. 

It  is  therefore  an  egregious  oversight  to  say  or  imply 
that  the  common  or  literal  meaning  of  the  word  "  death" 
is  cessation  of  being.  It  does  not  of  itself  include,  but 
is  distinct  from,  the  dissolution  which  usually  follows 
physical  death :  and  that  dissolution,  again,  is  not 
extinction,  only  a  change  of  form  ;  for  no  matter  is 
annihilated.  Accordingly,  none  of  the  definitions  of 
the  word  "death,"  as  found  in  Webster's  Dictionary, 
include  annihilation ;  while  the  primary  meaning  of 
the  word,  as  there  given,  turns,  not  on  the  extinction 
of  being,  but  on  the  cessation  of  certain  functions. 
How  thoroughly  this  harmonizes  with  and  forms  the 
basis  of  the  scriptural  use  of  the  word  "  death,"  as  de- 
scribing the  effect  of  sin,  will  presently  appear.  Mean- 
while, let  it  be  settled  that  "  death  "  does  not  literally 
and  in  its  lowest  use  signify  extinction  of  being,  nor 
"  life  "  simply  its  continuance. 

The  Scripture  itself  shall  be  our  witness  on  this 
point,  even  when  speaking  of  subjects  not  endowed 
with  immortality.  "  Thou  fool !  that  which  thou  sow- 
est  is  not  quickened,  except  it  die"  (1  Cor.  xv.  36). 
"  Except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die, 
it  abideth  alone  ;  but,  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth  much 
fruit "  (John  xii.  24).  Is  a  grain  of  wheat  annihilated 
in  order  to  germinate  ?  or  is  there  merely  a  change 


THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  -jQ 

of  condition  and  mode  of  action,  while  its  existence 
and  properties  remain  ? 

2.  But,  secondly,  there  is  found,  running  through 
all  languages,  a  higher,  and  what  some  lexicographers 
have  called  a  pregnant,  sense  of  these  words,  "  life  " 
and  "  death,"  whereby  they  denote  not  only  the  per- 
formance or  cessation  of  certain  functions,  but  also  the 
healthful,  harmonious,  and  happy  performance  of  them, 
or  the  contrary.  They  respect  the  normal  and  com- 
plete discharge  of  those  functions,  especially  in  the 
higher  faculties  of  animated  beings.  Life  is  then  a 
state  of  healthful  activity,  and  thus  also  of  prosperity 
or  true  welfare. 

Indeed,  we  speak  even  of  the  life  of  something  not 
properly  animate  to  designate  its  force,  spirit,  or  what- 
ever makes  it  sound,  valuable,  or  adequate  to  its  proper 
end.  Dead  capital  is  that  which  lies  useless  or  un- 
productive. A  lifeless  poem  is  simply  one  which  lacks 
the  higher  qualities  of  poetry.  A  speech  falls  dead 
when  it  fails  to  make  the  appropriate  impression :  or, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  speaker's  manner  is  full  of  ani- 
mation ;  and  his  speech,  of  life.  We  speak  of  a  live 
enterprise,  or  of  lifeless  yeast  or  wine. 

Still  more  common  is  the  use  of  the  words  "  live  " 
and  "  life,"  to  express  a  condition  of  welfare,  prosper- 
ity, or  enjoyment. 

Sometimes  in  the  Old  Testament  these  terms  describe 
simple  bodily  health  and  activity.  Thus  in  Josh.  v.  8 : 
"  When  they  had  done  circumcising  all  the  people, 
they  abode  in  their  places  in  the  camp  till  they 
were  whole ; "  in  the  Hebrew,  "  till  they  lived "  or 
were  alive.     A  vigorous  woman  was,  in  the  Hebrew, 


40  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

a  "living"  woman  (Exod.i.  19),  and  a  valiant  man  wan 
one  who  was  "  alive"  (2  Sam.  xxiii.  20).  Decay  of  the 
generative  power  in  the  human  system,  as  one  of  its 
most  important  functions,  is  described  (in  Rom.  iv. 
19)  as  hi  the  deadness  of  Sarah's  womb,"  and  Abra- 
ham's "  body  now  dead."  Ahaziah  and  Hezekiah  both 
inquire,  "  Shall  I  recover"  — literally,  "  shall  I  live  " — 
from  this  disease  ?  (2  Kings  i.  2  ;  viii.  8.) 

The  Hebrew  used  the  same  terms  to  express  a  more 
general  welfare,  whether  of  body,  mind,  or  condition. 
Samson's  refreshment  after  extreme  thirst  (Judg.  xv. 
19),  and  Jacob's  rallying  from  deep  grief,  are  described 
by  the  same  Hebrew  word,  as  their  "  living,"  or  com- 
ing to  life,  or,  as  the  translators  give  it,  "reviving;  " 
on  the  other  hand,  the  extreme  terror  and  mental  dis- 
tress of  Nabal  (1  Sam.  xxv.  37)  is  described  by  the 
words,  "  His  heart  died  within  him,  and  he  became  as  a 
stone."  The  form  of  shouting  wishes  of  joy  and  prosper- 
ity to  the  Hebrew  monarchs  (1  Sam.  x.  24  ;  2  Sam.  xvi. 
16)  was,  "Let  the  king  live! "  like  the  modern  French 
cry,  "  Vive  le  roi !  "  *  When  David  repaired  Jerusa- 
lem after  its  capture  from  the  Jebusites  (1  Chron.  xi. 
8),  he  "  made  it  alive."  When  the  Psalmist  prays  that 
God  would  restore  their  former  prosperity  and  happi- 
ness to  his  people,  he  prays  (Ps.  lxxxv.  6),  "  Wilt  thou 
not  make  us  alive  again,  that  thy  people  may  rejoice  in 
thee  ?  "  Says  Solomon,  "  Hope  deferred  maketh  the 
heart  sick ;  but,  when  desire  cometh,  it  is  a  tree  of 
life,"  i.e.  clearly,  of  joy  and  happiness.  Similar  is  the 
passage,  "  A  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance 

*  We  need  not  continually  repeat  that  we  follow  the  original  in  these 
instances  from  the  Old  Testament. 


THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  41 

of  the  things  which  he  possesseth"  (Luke  xii.  15).  A 
very  striking  instance  occurs  in  1  Thess.  iii.  8  :  "  For 
now  we  live,  if  ye  stand  fast  in  the  Lord,"  —  we  are 
happy,  blessed.  The  same  radical  conception  of  life 
as  denoting,  not  simple  existence,  but  true  functional 
activity,  alone  can  explain  such  opposite  phrases  as 
"  dead  faith  "  (Jas.  ii.  17,  20,  26)  and  "  dead  works  " 
(Heb.  vi.  1;  ix.  14).  The  faith  was  dead  because  it 
put  forth  none  of  the  true  activities  of  gospel  faith  ;  the 
works,  because  they  contained  within  no  such  vital 
force.  Neither  of  them  had  ever  been  alive  :  they  had 
not  died,  though  they  were  "  dead."  The  words  here 
designate  condition  rather  than  transaction.  The  land 
of  Egypt  is  spoken  of  as  "dying"  (Gen.  xlvii.  19), 
when,  as  explained  in  the  same  verse,  it  was  "  desolate ; " 
and  Pharaoh  names  the  terrible  ruin  which  the  locusts 
brought  upon  Egypt,  as  "  this  death  "  (Exod.  x.  17). 

The  Scriptures,  especially  of  the  Old  Testament, 
furnish  numerous  other  cases  in  which  "  life,"  clearly, 
and  by  the  agreement  of  the  best  lexicographers  and 
interpreters,  signifies  true  functional  action,  welfare, 
prosperity,  happiness,  and  the  like ;  and  "  death,"  its 
opposite.     The  above  examples  are  sufficient. 

A  similar  usage  occurs  in  our  own  habits  of  speech 
on  serious  subjects.  We  speak  of  men  as  being  alive 
to  every  good  enterprise  and  to  every  high  considera- 
tion, or  as  dead  to  all  better  feelings  and  higher  pur- 
poses, to  all  good,  to  their  friends  or  family,  to  society 
or  their  country ;  of  a  living  death  ;  of  a  life  worthy  of 
the  name  ;  of  the  difference  being  living  and  exist* 
ing :  — 

"  That  man  may  last,  but  never  lives, 
Who  much  receives,  yet  nothing  gives." 


42  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

But,  should  any  one  object  that  this  is  a  theological 
phraseology,  we  send  him  to  the  Greek  and  Latin 
classics  to  find  the  same  usage  there.  He  may  turn 
to  Freund's,  Andrews',  or  Leverett's  Lexicon,  and  find 
that  vivo,  to  live,  also  means  "  to  live  well,  live  at  ease, 
enjoy  life,"  with  references  to  Cicero,  Horace,  Lucilius, 
Catullus,  and  Sallust.  "  Since  you  urge  me  to  labor 
and  ambition,"  says  Cicero,  u  I  will  comply  ;  but  when 
shall  we  live  ?  "  Says  Horace,  u  Master  of  himself,  and 
joyously  does  that  man  pass  his  time,  who  can  daily 
say,  I  have  lived."  Says  the  well-known  inscription, 
"  Dum  vivimus,  vivamus  "  —  "  While  we  live,  let  us 
live."  Cicero,  in  his  "  Old  Age,"  speaks  of  a  "  vita  vita- 
lise It  were  as  easy  as  it  is  unnecessary  to  accumulate 
instances  of  this  kind.  It  hardly  seems  a  metaphorical 
meaning  of  the  words :  *  the  lexicons  well  designate 
it  as  a  "pregnant"  meaning,  —  one  which  the  words 
involve  whenever  they  are  applied,  not  to  a  mere  or- 
ganism, but  specifically  to  an  intellectual  and  sentient 
being.f 

The  same  usage  occurs  in  the  Greek :  C«w,  "  to  live," 
has  also  the  meaning  "  to  be  active,  efficient,"  and  the 
still  higher  meaning  "  to  live  prosperously  and  truly."  J 

»  ■— ■    ■  -  -•       --- -■■  — ■  f ■- — - — --   ■    -  ■  - — -....■■■,  ..,■■■ — , „ , — _^^____ 

*  Mr.  Hudson  in  his  later  work  is  constrained  to  make  the  important  ad- 
mission that  words  sometimes  "  break  beyond  the  limits  of  the  letter.  But 
when  this  lively  sense  becomes  the  ordinary  sense,  that  is  only  a  new  literal 
or  proper  sense"  (Christ  our  Life,  p.  66).  He  insists,  however,  that,  in  all 
cases,  the  primary  sense  has  prima  facie  evidence  in  its  favor.  But  even 
this  will  depend  wholly  on  the  nature  of  the  subject,  and  the  conditions  of 
the  speech.  Is  there  are  any  prima  facie  evidence  that  "  perceive  "  desig- 
nates, in  any  given  case,  recognition  with  the  eye  ? 

t  A  lower  grade  of  meaning  is  common  enough  in  the  Latin  writers  in 
such  phrases  as  "  living  dew,"  "  living  water,"  "  living  rock,"  "  dead 
laws,"  "  dead  applause,"  etc. 

X  See  Passow's  Lexicon,  under  the  word. 


THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  43 

Thus  Socrates  (Xenophon's  Mem.,  iii.  3, 11)  speaks  of 
"  whatever  noblest  things  we  have  learned  convention- 
ally, whereby  we  know  how  to  live,"  i.e.  to  live  as  we 
ought ;  and  still  more  distinctly  Dio  Cassius  (69, 19) 
uses  the  expression,  "  having  been  alive  so  many  years, 
but  having  lived  (Sw)  seven  years." 

In  truth, the  word  "  life,"  instead  of  denoting  simple 
existence,  has  for  its  very  point  and  specialty  to  ex- 
press something  more, — something  superadded.  What 
that  additional  idea  is,  will  depend  upon  the  speaker's 
view,  permanent  or  passing,  of  the  real  office,  end,  and 
use  of  life.  According  to  the  elevation  of  his  views, 
the  word  becomes  more  and  more  "  pregnant."  Such 
a  process  is  an  absolute  necessity  of  human  thought. 
Its  lower  planes  of  meaning  are  of  freshness  and  pres- 
ervation, of  the  power  of  vegetable  development ; 
then  of  sentient  and  conscious  existence,  activity, 
efficiency,  and  the  like  ;  then  of  prosperity  and  enjoy- 
ment ;  and,  higher  yet,  of  harmonious  moral  develop- 
ment, and  fulfillment  of  the  great  moral  aims  of  human 
existence.  All  this  will  depend  on  the  point  of  view. 
It  was  therefore  natural  for  the  Egyptian  midwives  to 
describe  the  vigorous  Hebrew  women  as  "  alive  ; "  for 
the  populace  to  say,  "  Let  the  king  live,"  when  they 
wished  him  a  prosperous  reign ;  for  Cicero,  over- 
whelmed with  labor  and  care,  to  look  forward  to  a 
happy  leisure  as  "  life  ; "  and  for  Socrates  (Plato's  Re- 
pub,  vi.  495,  c.)  to  describe  those  who  renounced  phi- 
losophical studies  as  leading  no  "  true  life."  In  all 
these  instances,  the  word  was  used  to  denQte  something 
more  than  existence  ;  and  that  something  varied  with 


44  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

the  notion  entertained  of  the  proper  condition   and 
work  of  the  human  being. 

Equally  natural  was  it  for  those  taking  a  still  highei 
view  of  the  functions  of  a  human  being  to  designate 
the  fulfillment  of  those  higher  functions  as  life. 

8.  Here  we  are  brought  naturally  and  directly  to  the 
common  Scripture  use  of  the  terms  "life"  and  "death." 

For  the  word  of  God  contemplates  and  addresses 
man  chiefly  in  a  far  higher  light  than  that  of  Cicero  or 
Socrates ;  not  simply  as  a  being  made  to  act,  think, 
or  receive  pleasure,  but  as  a  moral,  accountable  being, 
made  to  "  fear  God  and  keep  his  commandments,"  and 
thus  to  live  in  holy  and  intimate  union  with  his 
Maker. 

Now,  that  spiritual  state  in  which  man  is  living'  in  in- 
timate union  with  God,  performing  the  true  work  of  life, 
and  reaping'  the  blessed  fruits,  in  which  all  the  func- 
tions of  his  being  are  harmoniously  and  happily  ac- 
complished, the  Scriptures  abundantly  and  constantly 
name  life  ;  and  its  opposite  condition  they  term  death. 
The  words  describe  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  man 
in  this  world,  and  still  more  emphatically  its  completed 
results  in  another  world.  Sometimes  the  present, 
sometimes  the  future  aspect  of  the  case,  is  more  prom- 
inently in  view;  sometimes  the  total  state  is  gathered 
up  without  special  discrimination  of  its  aspects.  This 
use  of  the  terms  is  a  fact  which  no  sophistry  can 
evade. 

And  let  it  be  observed,  also,  that  no  single  terms 
could  be  found,  so  appropriate  in  themselves,  or  so 
conformed  to  the  whole  scriptural  conception   of  the 


THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  45 

chief  end  of  man's  being.  The  thought  is  complex : 
vital  connection  with  the  living  God,  spontaneous 
growth  and  action  of  an  inner  principle,  harmonious 
development  of  the  soul  after  the  true  law  of  its  being, 
holiness,  and  resulting  blessedness.  All  this  can 
be  summed  up  in  no  one  term  so  fit  as  "life;"  and 
its  opposite,  "  death."  They  tell  the  tale  of  the  high- 
est, truest  use,  and  of  the  utmost  perversion  and  abuse, 
—  each  in  one  word.  Accordingly,  it  is  noticeable 
that  the  New  Testament  never  announces  the  whole 
condition  and  destiny  of  the  good  by  such  terms  as 
happiness,  blessedness,  or  felicity.  Even  Mr.  Hudson 
calls  attention  to  this  fact :  "  It  was  enough  for  Christ 
and  the  apostles  to  talk  about  life"  —  for  the  obvious 
reason  that  no  term  of  less  breadth  and  fullness  could 
adequately  set  forth  the  complex  good  that  Christ 
works  in  the  soul.*  The  New-Testament  view  is  well 
exhibited  in  Rom.  ii.  7,  where  "  glory,  honor,  immor- 
tality" [incorruption],  are  all  given  as  the  synonyms 

*  Mr.  Hudson  does  not  seem  to  be  aware  that  this  admission  is  fatal  to 
his  theory  that  eternal  life  is,  in  Scripture,  eternal  existence,  solely  or  chief- 
ly. For  he  holds  that,  in  fact,  that  future  state  will  be  one  of  holy  blessed- 
ness. But  do  the  sacred  writers,  when  they  speak  of  that  state,  constantly 
ignore  its  grand  characteristic  and  glory  ?  Or  is  not  the  very  constancy 
with  which  they  employ  the  term  u  life,"  conclusive  evidence  that  they  com- 
prise therein  the  whole  multiform  well-being  of  the  saint? 

A  constant  fallacy  runs  through  Mr.  Hudson's  representation  of  the  com- 
mon view;  Thus:  "  He  who  was  the  4  Resurrection  and  the  Life  '  was  dan- 
gerously literal  in  his  style  of  speech,  if  he  simply  meant  that  he  came  to 
give  happiness  to  immortal  beings."  Yet  no  sound  evangelical  writer 
teaches  that  Christ  came  simply  to  give  happiness  to  immortal  beings. 
This  constant  false  assumption  is  one  of  the  chief  points  of  plausibility  in 
Mr.  Hudson's  argument.  The  issue  he  makes  is  this,  Doe's  "  life"  eternal 
mean  happiness,  or  existence?  We  answer,  in  the  Savior's  use  it  involves 
both,  and  more  also.  No  system  but  a  low  style  of  Uuiversalism  lays  the 
chief  stress  of  eternal  life  on  the  happiness  alone. 


46  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

of  eternal  life.  Nothing  but  "  life  "  in  its  most  preg- 
nant meaning  can  express  the  divine  idea  of  the  work 
that  goes  on  for  ever  in  the  regenerate  heart. 

"  Death,"  on  the  other  hand,  is  that  state  of  separa- 
tion from  God,  and  from  the  beatific  fruition  of  God, 
in  which  all  the  higher  faculties  of  human  nature  are 
working  falsely  and  discordantly ;  in  which  the  true 
end  of  living  is  discarded,  and  its  true  enjoyment  lost ; 
and  in  which  there  is  at  last  the  complete  extinction, 
not  of  the  soul's  being,  but  of  its  well-being.  It  sums 
up  the  whole  penalty  of  sin  ;  the  complex  woe,  begin- 
ning here,  matured  and  perfected  hereafter. 

Indeed,  the  very  thought  and  phrase  which  annihi- 
lationists  have  pronounced  absurd*  —  "  a  death  that 
never  ends"  —  is  found  expressed  and  expanded  by  a 
Jewish  writer  cotemporary  with  Paul.  Says  Philo 
Judseus  of  the  first  murderer's  punishment,  "  What 
was  it  ?  That  he  should  live  continually  dying,  and 
that  he  should  in  a  manner  endure  undying  and  never- 
ending  death.  .  .  .  Consider  how  it  is  that  death  can 
be  said  to  be  never  ending  in  this  man's  case.  Since 
there  are  four  different  affections  to  which  the  soul  is 
liable,  two  of  them  being  conversant  with  evil,  either 
present  or  expected,  namely,  sorrow  and  fear,  it  cuts 
up  by  the  roots  the  pair  of  them  which  are  conversant 
with  good,  in  order  that  the  man  may  never  receive 
pleasure  from  any  accident  of  fortune,  nor  ever  feel  a 
desire  for  any  thing  pleasant ;  and  it  leaves  him  only 
those  affections  conversant  about  evil, —  sorrow  without 
any  mixture  of  cheerfulness,  and  unmixed  fear ;  for 
the  Scripture  says  that  God  laid  a  curse  upon  the  fra- 

*  Sec  Storrs'  Six  Sermons,  p.  120,  et  seq. 


THE   SCRIPTURE   ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  47 

tricide,  so  that  he  should  be  continually  groaning  and 
trembling.  Moreover,  he  put  a  mark  upon  him,  that 
he  might  never  be  pitied  by  any  one ;  so  that  he  might 
not  die  at  once,  but  might,  as  I  have  said,  pass  all  his 
time  in  dying,  amid  griefs  and  pains  and  incessant 
calamities."  * 

The  origin  of  this  mode  of  speech  is  not  difficult  to 
decide  upon.  While  physical  death  as  the  most  terri- 
ble of  natural  events  would  be  a  ready  symbol  for  the 
most  fearful  woes  to  the  spirit,!  we  believe  the  actual 
connection  to  be  historic,  originating  in  the  record  of 
the  fall  and  the  curse :  "  In  the  day  that  thou  eatest 
thereof,  thou  shalt  surely  die."  That  this  included 
physical  death,  the  Scriptures  leave  no  room  to  doubt ; 
nor  may  we  reasonably  doubt  that  at  once  there  passed 
upon  the  frame  the  mysterious  change  which  was  to 
bring  it  surely  to  the  dust.  But  that  this  was  not  all 
the  curse,  nor  its  most  immediate  and  perceptible 
effect,  nor  the  chief  stress  of  its  terror,  lies  on  the  face 
of  the  record,  and  is  found  in  God's  own  unfolding  of 
the  sentence. 

What  was  the  immediate  result  of  the  transgression  ? 
The  sense  of  guilt  and  shame,  —  "They  saw  that  they 
were  naked;"  severance  from  God,  terror,  and  recoil- 
ing from  his  presence,  with  total  loss  of  the  joys  of 
intercourse  with  him,  —  "  I  heard  thy  voice  in  the  gar- 
den, and  I  was  afraid,  because  I  was  naked  ;  and  I  hid 
myself."  Then  comes  a  further  unfolding,  in  the  sen- 
tence which  announced  to  the  woman  pain  and  sorrow 

*  Philo  Judseus,  Rewards  and  Punishments,  xii. 

t  So  light  and  darkness  are  naturally  and  almost  inseparably  associated 
with  the  idea  of  spiritual  illumination  and  its  opposite. 


48  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

and  subjection,  and  to  the  man  sorrow  and  wearisome 
discouraging  toil,  "  till  thou  return  unto  the  ground." 
The  simple  returning  to  dust,  then,  by  the  record's 
own  showing,  was  not  the  whole  penalty  involved  in 
the  threat  "  Thou  shalt  surely  die :  "  it  was  only  an 
outward  token  and  seal  of  a  comprehensive  woe,  —  the 
broad  and  fearful  consequences  of  sin. 

Such  being  the  case,  it  is  not  essential  to  inquire 
whether  the  first  pair  understood  all  that  was  involved 
in  the  penalty,  "  Ye  shall  surely  die."  What  further 
explanation  God  may  or  may  not  have  made  of  a  fact 
that  never  could  be  fully  comprehended  till  experi- 
enced, we  do  not  know.  It  will  not  answer  to  assert, 
as  some  have  done,  that  it  would  not  be  just  to  inflict 
a  penalty  of  which  the  full  extent  was  not  previously 
unfolded.  In  criminal  cases,  neither  the  judicial  deal- 
ings of  God  nor  man  sustain  the  position.  The  question 
is  never  raised.  Whatever  may  be  the  views  of  the 
murderer  as  to  the  nature  of  the  penalty,  he  will,  if 
convicted,  suffer  that  penalty. 

The  assertion  of  some  that  to  "  die,"  in  the  threat 
involved  merely  physical  decease,  is  met  by  the  insur- 
mountable fact,  that  the  actual  consequences,  as  set 
forth  in  the  record,  and  subsequently  announced  by 
God  himself,  include  a  great  deal  more.  The  simple 
facts  of  that  momentous  transaction  at  the  beginning 
of  human  history  are  these :  First  the  command,  with 
the  annexed  penalty  in  one  word,  "  Thou  shalt  surely 
die;"  next  the  transgression;  then  the  consequence, 
not  alone  an  ultimate  return  to  dust,  but  also  an  im- 
mediate severance  from  God  and  his  fellowship,  shame, 
remorse,  dread,  and  terror  before  God,  sorrow,  painful 


THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  49 

labor,  and  a  curse  on  the  very  conditions  of  toil.  Now, 
what  more  natural  and  almost  unavoidable  than  that, 
thenceforth,  the  state  into  which  man  fell,  with  all  its 
complex  and  on-reaching  woe,  should  be  described  by 
that  one  term  "  death  "  ?  Indeed,  so  thoroughly  does 
this  higher  and  pregnant  meaning  of  the  term  often 
predominate,  that,  in  repeated  instances,  the  physical 
decease  is  overlooked  as  not  properly  deserving  the 
name.  Thus  the  Saviour  says  (John  viii.  51),  "If  a 
man  keep  my  saying,  he  shall  never  see  death." 

Men  are  accordingly  represented  as  being  even  now 
in  a  spiritual  condition  called  "  death,"  to  be  followed 
by  the  full  and  final  consummation  which  is  "  the  sec- 
ond death,"  or  often  simply  "  death."  And  as  the 
believer  shall  never  see  death,  but  "  hath  everlasting 
life  ;"  even  so  it  is  said  of  the  unbeliever,  that  he  "  shall 
not  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him  " 
(John  iii.  36).  And  in  the  act  of  believing  men  have 
passed  in  this  world  "  from  death  unto  life  "  (John  iii. 
36;  1  John  iii.  14).  Each  term  in  the  Scriptures 
designates  respectively  a  spiritual  state,  with  all  its 
adjuncts  and  issues.  Each  state  begins  here  and  is 
consummated  hereafter ;  the  future  consummation  in 
the  one  case  being  often,  though  not  always,  distin- 
guished as  eternal  life  ;  in  the  other  case  less  frequent- 
ly as  the  second  death. 

Let  us  look  at  some  indisputable  instances  in  which 
these  words  designate  a  moral  or  spiritual  condition  of 
the  soul,  with  certain  qualities  and  issues,  and  in 
which  the  one  can  not  signify  either  extinction  or  nat- 
ural decease,  nor  the  other  merely  the  opposite  of  this 
idea. 

4 


50  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

Both  terms  are  applied  to  the  successive  states  of 
the  repenting  prodigal,  Luke  xv.  24,  32.  "  This  my 
son  was  dead,  and  is  alive  again ;  he  was  lost,  and  is 
found."  The  words  clearly  describe  his  state  of  deep 
moral  degradation  and  wretchedness,  and  his  recovery 
from  it.  They  can  be  tortured  into  nothing  else.  It 
is  vain  for  Mr.  Hudson  to  allege  "  either  supposed 
death,  or  relative  loss,  — '  dead  to  me.'  "  There  is  no 
hint  of  any  supposed  decease,  while  the  explanatory 
phrase,  "  was  lost,"  refutes  the  assertion.  The  ser- 
vants and  the  elder  brother  speak  of  him  simply  as 
M  having  come  ; "  while  the  elder  brother  at  once  di- 
lates upon  the  history  of  the  profligate  as  a  known  fact, 
— "  hath  devoured  thy  living  with  harlots."  The  other 
alternative  —  "dead  to  me"  —  concedes  the  whole 
principle  of  interpretation  which  the  theory  denies. 
For  if  a  corrupt  and  profligate  man  is  intelligibly 
described  by  the  word  "  dead,"  dead  to  his  father,  the 
case  is  perfectly  parallel  to  one's  being  dead  to  God 
and  holiness.     It  designates  a  moral  wreck. 

"  But  she  that  liveth  in  pleasure  [wantonly]  is  dead 
while  she  liveth"  (ITim.  v.  6).  The  lewd  woman, 
while  outwardly  living,  is  dead,  — literally  "  has  died." 
But  she  is  neither  extinct  nor  deceased :  she  is  in  a 
condition  of  spiritual  death,  alienation  from  God, 
perversion  of  being,  and  rejection  of  the  true  end  and 
blessedness  of  life. 

When  one  of  the  disciples  said,  "  Lord,  suffer  me 
first  to  go  and  bury  my  father,"  Jesus  replied,  "  Fol- 
low thou  me,  and  let  the  dead  bury  their  dead" 
(Matt.  viii.  22).  While  it  is  obvious  that  the  second 
word  "dead"  refers  to  the  deceased  person,  it  is  equally 


THE   SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  5] 

obvious  that  the  first  word  can  not  have  a  similar  mean- 
ing. The  Savior  does  not  utter  such  unmeaning 
things  as,  "  Let  deceased  persons  bury  deceased  per- 
sons," much  less,  "  let  the  non-existent  bury  the  non* 
existent."  The  simple  apposite  meaning  recognized 
by  the  great  mass  of  skillful  interpreters  is,  "  let  the 
spiritually  dead,  unbelievers,  bury  the  deceased ;  but 
do  thou,  my  disciple,  come  with  me  to  the  work  that 
is  waiting."  *  But  Mr.  Hudson  says  they  are  called 
dead  by  anticipation,  —  prolepsis  :  "  Christ  regards  the 
lovers  of  this  world  as  heirs  of  death."  Yet  even  this 
shift  concedes  the  point,  viz.  that  the  word  "  dead " 
describes  the  present  state  of  certain  living  men,  their 
present  character,  condition,  and  prospects,  —  "  lovers 
of  this  world  or  heirs  of  death."  It  describes  men  in 
a  certain  moral  condition  to  which  certain  fearful  ten- 
dencies and  consequences  attach. 

"  I  know  thy  works,  that  thou  hast  a  name,  that  thou 
livest,  and  art  dead  "  (Rev.  iiL  1).  The  common 
reader  can  not  miss  the  meaning.  The  accompanying 
explanation  renders  mistake  impossible  :  "  Be  watchful, 
and  strengthen  the  things  which  remain,  that  are  ready 
to  die;  for  I  have  not  found  thy  works  perfect  before 
God.  Remember  therefore  how  thou  hast  received 
and  heard,  and  hold  fast  and  repent.  If  therefore 
thou  shalt  not  watch,  I  will  come  on  thee  as  a  thief, 

*  One  writer  alleges  that  the  Greek  word  rendered  dead  (venpovc)  "al- 
ways denotes  literal  death,  and  commonly  signifies  corpses."  The  statement 
is  erroneous.  Thongh  the  word  frequently  designates  a  corpse,  it  very  often 
designates  simply  the  dead  in  opposition  to  the  living;  and  in  Homer,  when 
used  in  the  plural,  denotes  the  dwellers  of  the  under-world. —  See  Passow 
and  Liddell  and  Scott.  Rev.  iii.  1  is  a  perfectly  clear  case,  in  which  it 
neither  designates  a  corpse  nor  a  deceased  person. 


52  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

and  thou  shalt  not  know  what  hour  I  will  come  upon 
thee.  Thou  hast  a  few  names  even  in  Sardis,  which 
have  not  denied  their  garments ;  and  they  shall  walk 
with  me  in  white  ;  for  they  are  worthy."  Here,  again, 
the  word  "dead"  describes  the  spiritual  condition  of  a 
church  in  which  the  religion  was,  to  a  great  degree, 
spurious.  As  De  Wette  remarks,  it  was,  on  the  one 
hand,  destitute  of  spiritual  power  and  activity,  and  a 
fruit-bearing  faith  ("  I  have  not  found  thy  works  per- 
fect," literally  fulfilled),  and,  on  the  other,  even  fallen 
into  a  sinful  life  (v.  4).  But  as  the  Church,  being  a 
collective  body,  contained  a  few  individuals  not  in  this 
condition,  they,  "  a  few  names,"  are  specially  excepted 
as  the  things  that  remain  or  are  left,  not  dead,  but 
"  are  ready  to  die,"  endangered  by  the  surrounding 
spiritual  death.  Here,  again,  Mr.  Hudson  talks  faint- 
ly of  a  prolepsis,  —  "  devoted  to  eternal  death,"  but 
says  he  "  shall  not  insist ; "  although  he  adds  that 
"  the  phrase  in  verse  second,  '  strengthen  the  things 
that  are  ready  to  die,'  certainly  supports  the  view." 
But  (1)  that  phrase  refutes  him ;  for  it  discriminates 
what  was  left  not  dead,  though  endangered,  the  "  few 
worthy  names,"  from  what  was  dead,  "  defiled,"  and 
needing  repentance.  (2)  The  sacred  writer  clearly 
distinguishes  the  two  things  which  Mr.  Hudson  con- 
founds :  the  present  state  of  the  Church,  —  "  Thou  art 
dead,"  —  from  its  threatened  doom,  —  "  I  will  come  as 
a  thief,"  etc.  (3)  The  sacred  writer,  by  the  connec- 
tion, makes  it  impossible  to  understand  the  word 
"  dead  "  otherwise  than  as  describing  the  present  spir- 
itual condition  of  that  fallen  church :  "  Thou  hast  a 


THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  53 

name  that  thou  livest,  and  art  dead."     No  utterance 
could  be  more  distinct. 

A  clear  instance  is  found  in  Eph.  ii.  1-6  :  "  And  you 
hath  he  quickened  who  were  dead  in  trespasses  and 
sins ;  wherein,  in  time  past,  ye  walked  according  to 
the  course  of  this  world,  according  to  the  prince  of  the 
power  of  the  air,  the  spirit  that  now  worketh  in  the 
children  of  disobedience;  among  whom,  also, we  all  had 
our  conversation  in  times  past,  in  the  lusts  of  our  flesh, 
fulfilling  the  desires  of  the  flesh  and  of  the  mind  ;  and 
were  by  nature  the  children  of  wrath  even  as  others. 
But  God,  who  is  rich  in  mercy,  for  his  great  love  where- 
with he  loved  us,  even  when  we  were  dead  in  sins,  hath 
quickened  us  together  with  Christ  (by  grace  ye  are 
saved),  and  hath  raised  us  up  together,  and  made  us  sit 
together  in  heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus."  Here 
are  persons  described  as  having  been  "  dead  in  sins," 
yet  all  the  while  in  a  state  of  prodigious  activity  in  all 
manner  of  lust  and  service  of  Satan,  but  now  4  quick- 
ened "  or  made  alive  with  Christ ;  being  "  saved  by 
grace."  Mr.  Hudson  regards  this  as  prolepsis ;  and 
among  several  authorities  produces  one  respectable 
recent  name  (Meyer)  in  favor  of  it.*  Against  it  are 
such  names  as  Alford,  Olshausen,  De  Wette,  Eadie, 
Ellicott.  And  the  careful  reader  can  judge  for  him- 
self, by  glancing  over  the  passage  and  the  verses  fol- 
lowing, as  far  as  verse  thirteenth,  whether  the  apostle  is 
speaking  merely  of  two  diverse  retributions,  one  of 
which  would  have  come,  but  the  other  actually  will,  in 

*  Meyer,  however,  is  not  to  be  understood  as  siding  with  Mr.  Hudson  in 
viewing  this  as  physical  death:  in  his  third  edition  (1859),  he  emphatically 
describes  them  as  sentenced  to  "  eternal  death." 


54  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

the  other  world ;  or  is  speaking  of  two  actual  states  in 
this  world,  in  one  of  which  the  Ephesians  had  long 
lived  "  in  time  past,"  but  had  now,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
been  transferred  into  the  other,  which  is  indeed  to  be 
made  complete  hereafter.  Look  at  the  tense  of  the 
statement,  "  were  dead,"  "  hath  quickened  "  (rather 
"  quickened  ")  ;  at  the  specifications  of  character  ac- 
companying, "  had  our  conversation  in  times  past  in 
the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  fulfilling  the  desires  of  the  flesh 
and  the  mind,"  but  now  "  his  workmanship,  created 
in  Christ  Jesus  unto  good  works ;  "  at  the  producing 
cause  of  the  difference,  namely,  conversion ;  and  at  the 
description  of  the  two  states  as  coeval  with  the  periods 
before  and  after  conversion,  —  "At  that  time  ye  were 
without  Christ,  being  aliens,"  &c,  "  but  now  ye  who 
sometime  were  far  off  are  made  nigh  by  the  blood  of 
Christ."  It  can  not  be  claimed  that  the  phrase,  "hath 
quickened  us  together  with  Christ,"  looks  wholly  to 
the  future ;  for  our  spiritual  quickening  here  grows 
out  of  our  union  to  Christ,  while  it  finds  in  his  resur- 
rection its  symbol,  its  basis,  and  the  pledge  of  its  final 
completion. 

Still  more  unanswerably  clear  is  the  meaning  of  these 
terms  in  Col.  ii.  13  :  "  And  you,  being  dead  in  your 
sins  and  the  uncircumcision  of  your  flesh,  hath  he  quick- 
ened together  with  him,  having  forgiven  you  all  tres- 
passes." The  preceding  verses  read  thus :  "  And  ye 
are  complete  in  him  which  is  the  head  of  all  princi- 
pality and  power.  In  whom  also  ye  are  [were]  circum- 
cised with  the  circumcision  made  without  hands,  in 
putting  off  the  body  of  the  sins  of  the  flesh  by  the  cir- 
cumcision of    Christ ;    buried  with  him  in  baptism, 


TIIE   SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  55 

wherein  ye  arc  [were]  risen  with  him  through  the  faith 
of  the  operation  of  God  who  hath  raised  him  from  the 
dead."  Here  the  circumcision  made  without  hands, 
and  being  made  alive  with  Christ  and  in  Christ,  are  repre- 
sented as  cotemporary  past  events  ;  and  prior  to  them 
was  the  death  from  which  these  Christians  had  been 
made  alive.  Accordingly,  the  statements  before  and 
after  are  of  present  state  and  privileges.  And,  to  com- 
plete the  proof  that  the  quickening  and  upraising  are 
already  experienced,  the  apostle  proceeds  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  next  chapter,  "If  ye  then  be  risen 
[raised]  with  Christ,  seek  those  things  which  are 
above."  Spiritual  affections  are  enjoined,  on  the  ground 
of  a  supposed  transition  from  death  to  life  already 
wrought.     Mr.  Hudson,  as  usual,  talks  of  prolepsis. 

In  this  connection,  it  may  be  well  to  advert  to  a 
slightly  varied  use  of  the  same  method  of  speech.  The 
apostle,  in  urging  the  Ephesians  to  set  their  affections 
on  things  above,  and  not  on  things  on  the  earth,  adds, 
"  For  ye  are  dead,  and  your  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in 
God"  (Col.  iii.  3).  And  elsewhere  (Rom.  vi.  1-11), 
he  speaks  of  being  "  dead  to  sin,"  and  "  alive  unto 
God."  What  is  the  propriety  or  consistency  of  still 
applying  the  term  "  dead  "  to  those  who  are  no  longer 
dead  in  sin,  but  alive  unto  God  ?  — no  longer  dead  fit, 
but  dead  to,  sin  ?  How  simple  the  explanation ;  and  how 
it  proceeds  from  and  confirms  the  fundamental  notion 
of  life  already  exhibited  as  the  possession  of  certain 
functional  activities.  Among  other  powers  of  life  is 
sensibility \  while  bodily  death  is  a  state  of  bodily  in- 
sensibility. This  aspect  is  the  one  seized  upon  by  the 
apostle's  thought  to  make  a  representation  paradoxi- 


56  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

cal  only  in  appearance.  The  higher  the  Christian's 
religious  life  and  fulfillment  of  his  true  functions,  the 
more  completely  insensible  is  he  to  the  work  and  at- 
tractions of  sin.  His  highest  life  to  God,  or  greatest 
remove  from  death  in  sin,  is  thus  the  fullest  death  to 
sin.  This  incidental  allusion,  superficially  inconsistent, 
really  in  perfect  harmony,  is  thus  one  of  the  best  proofs 
of  the  correctness  of  this  view  of  life  and  death. 

Another  clear  text  is  found  John  v.  24  :  "He  that 
heareth  my  word,  and  believeth  on  him  that  sent  me, 
hath  everlasting  life,  and  shall  not  [doth  not]  come 
into  condemnation,  but  is  [has]  passed  from  death  unto 
life."  The  change  has  taken  place,  and  everlasting 
life  is  already  commenced  as  the  present  portion  of 
the  believer.  This  twofold  statement  in  the  past  and 
present  tense,  mutually  explanatory,  requires  a  prodi- 
gious hardihood  of  reckless  interpretation  to  pronounce 
it  a  reference  wholly  to  the  future.  Accordingly,  the 
best  modern  scholars,  Alford,  Liicke,  Tholuck,  Olshau- 
sen,  Do  Wette,  Meyer,  Winer,  are  perfectly  agreed  in 
their  concurrence  in  the  received  view.  "  Where  the 
faith  is,  there  the  possession  of  life  is.  .  .  .  The 
'  passage  over '  from  death  unto  life  has  already  taken 
place,"  says  Alford.  Winer  remarks,  "  The  perfect  is 
not  used  for  the  future  (John  v.  24)  :  the  passage  con- 
tains no  reference  to  a  future  event,  but  to  something 
which  has  really  commenced."  *  Mr.  Hudson,  how- 
ever, talks  of  prolepsis. 

Entirely  coincident  with  this  passage,  and,  if  possible, 

*  Winer's  New-Testament  Grammar,  Masson's  Translation,  p.  289.  Mr. 
Hudson  gives  a  different  quotation,  which  we  do  not  find  in  Winer's  last 
and  matured  edition.    We  have  not  the  older  editions  at  hand. 


THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  57 

more  explicit,  is  1  John  iii.  14,  15  :  "  We  know  that  we 
have  passed  from  death  unto  life,  because  we  love  the 
brethren.  He  that  loveth  not  his  brother  abideth  in 
death.  Whosoever  hateth  his  brother  is  a  murderer ; 
and  ye  know  that  no  murderer  hath  eternal  life  abid- 
ing in  him."  In  verse  17,  the  phrase  is  varied  by 
asking,  "  How  dwelleth  the  love  of  God  in  him  ?  " 
as  an  equivalent  for  the  same  spiritual  state.  It  re- 
quires no  comment.  One  who  loves  God  and  his 
brother  is  a  man  who  has  passed  from  death  unto  life  ; 
one  who  does  not,  now  abides  in  death,  and  does  not 
have  eternal  life  abiding  in  him.  Mr.  Hudson  vir- 
tually admits  here  that  eternal  life  denotes  a  process 
already  commenced  in  the  soul,  and  continuing  for  ever. 
"  We  think  the  phrase  '  eternal  life  abiding  in  him  '  is 
best  explained  of  the  divine  life-giving,  working  now 
as  a  regulative  principle,  and  as  a  germ  of  the  future 
life." 

The  case  is  very  fully  stated  in  John  vi.  47,  et  seq. : 
"  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  believeth  on  me  hath 
everlasting  life."  And,  after  some  intervening  remarks, 
"  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink 
his  blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you.  Whoso  eateth  my 
flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood  hath  eternal  life ;  and  I 
will  raise  him  up  at  the  last  day.  For  my  flesh  is 
meat  indeed,  and  my  blood  is  drink  indeed.  He  that 
eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood  dwelleth  in 
me,  and  I  in  him,"  etc.  Here  is  the  whole  case.  They 
that  are  not  united  to  Christ  "  have  no  life  in  them ; " 
they  that  are  "  have  eternal  life  :  "  it  is  produced  by, 
and  begins  with,  their  spiritual  feeding  on  Christ,  and  is 


\ 


58  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

consummated  at  the  resurrection.  "  I  will  raise  him 
up  at  the  last  day." 

Perfectly  explicit  on  the  point  that  the  life  unto  God 
commences  in  this  world  is  also  Gal.  ii.  19,  20  :  "  For 
I  through  the  law  am  dead  to  the  law,  that  I  might 
live  unto  God.  I  am  crucified  with  Christ,  nevertheless 
I  live  ;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me :  and  the  life 
which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the 
Son  of  God,  who  loved  me,  and  gave  himself  for  me." . 

The  immediate  effect  wrought  by  that  change  as  the 
beginning  of  an  endless  life  is  well  set  forth  in  our 
Lord's  conversation  with  the  woman  of  Samaria  (John 
iv.),  where  he  speaks  of  the  "  living  water,"  and  adds, 
"  Whosoever  drinketh  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give 
him  shall  never  thirst;  but  the  water  that  I  shall 
give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water  springing  up 
into  everlasting  life."  And,  in  his  conversation  with 
Martha  (John  xi.),  the  Saviour  speaks  of  this  life,  begun 
in  the  believer  here,  as  flowing  on  uninterrupted  for 
ever ;  natural  decease  being  disregarded  as  unworthy 
to  be  mentioned.  "Jesus  said  unto  her,  I  am  the 
resurrection  and  the  life ;  he  that  believeth  on  me, 
though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live.  And  whoso- 
ever liveth  and  believeth  in  me  shall  never  die" 
United  to  him,  the  dead  lives,  and  the  living  never 
dies.  With  the  same  disregard  of  natural  death  as 
unworthy  of  mention,  and  as  not  interrupting  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  true  life  begun  here,  Christ  says  (John 
viii.  51),  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  If  a  man  keep  my 
saying,  he  shall  never  see  death." 

In  one  instance,  the  life  which  the  Christian  gains  is 


THE   SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  59 

termed  the  true  or  "real  life"  (t?jg  ovzmg  £o%), — 
1  Tim.  vi.  19.* 

As  the  believer  shall  never  see  that  which  is  truly 
death,  so  the  unbeliever  never  experiences  true  life. 
"  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life  ; 
and  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life, 
but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him  "  (John  iii.  36). 
The  one  has  everlasting  life  now  ;  the  other  shall  not 
see  life  at  all,  being  now  in  a  state  on  which  the  wrath 
of  God  abides. 

Regeneration  is  elsewhere  marked  as  the  point  of 
transition,  being  a  resurrection  to  "  newness  of  life." 
"  Therefore  we  are  buried  with  him  by  baptism  into 
death,  that  like  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead 
by  the  glory  of  the  Father,  even  so  we  also  should 
walk  in  newness  of  life  "  (Rom.  vi.  4).  And  to  leave 
no  doubt  that  the  apostle  speaks  of  a  work  already 
commenced,  he  says  in  verse  13,  "  Neither  yield  ye 
your  members  as  instruments  of  unrighteousness  unto 
sin,  but  yield  yourselves  unto  God  as  those  that  are  alive 
from  the  dead,  and  your  members  as  instruments  of 
righteousness  unto  God."  Holy  obedience  is  proof 
that  they  are  alive  from  the  dead.  Yet  Mr.  Hudson 
talks  of  "  prolepsis." 

"  Awake,  thou  that  sleepest,  and  arise  from  the  dead, 
and  Christ  shall  give  thee  light"  (Eph.  v.  14).  Sinners 
are  summoned  to  repentance  under  the  form  of  a  call 


*  The  received  text  here  reads,  "eternal  life"  (auoviov) ;  against  the 
united  voice  of  the  oldest  manuscripts,  A,  &,  D,E,  F,  G,  and  many  other 
authorities,  the  decision  of  critical  editions  (Lachmann,  Teschendorf),  and 
the  clear  opinion  of  such  commentators  as  Alford,  Ellicott,  Olshausen, 
De  Wette,  Meyer. 


60  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

to  arise  from  the  dead.  In  this  instance,  Mr.  Hudson 
admits  that  "  the  metaphor,"  as  he  terms  it,  "  is  too 
manifest  for  doubt." 

In  addition  to  all  the  other  forms  of  statement,  we  have 
(John  xvii.  3)  the  assertion  that  this  state  called  eternal 
life  consists  in  the  true  knowledge  of  God  in  Christ. 
"  And  this  is  life  eternal,  that  they  might  know  thee 
the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  thou  hast 
sent."  An  attempt  is  made  to  evade  the  force  of  this 
passage  by  saying  that  the  expression  "  will,  on  the 
face  of  it,  as  easily  mean  that  the  knowledge  of  God, 
&c,  are  the  way  or  means  of  life."  But  this  device  is 
not  only  a  departure  from  the  direct  and  simple  form 
of  the  statement ;  it  is  in  positive  contradiction  to  the 
usage  in  connection  with  this  peculiar  mode  of  expres- 
sion (avtrj  da  Igxiv  t\  alcoviog  £mj,  hex.  yivojaxcooi,  k.  r.  X.  this  is 
eternal  life,  that  they  might  know,  <fcc),  which  else- 
where means  that  the  two  things  are  equivalent ;  so  that 
the  one  constitutes  the  other,  or  the  second  consists  in 
the  first.  Thus  John  vi.  29:  "  This  is  the  work  of  God, 
that  ye  [might]  believe  on  him  whom  he  hath  sent,"  i.e. 
to  work  the  work  of  God  consists  in  believing.  "  Jesus 
saith  unto  them,  My  meat  is  to  do  [literally,  that  I 
might  do]  the  will  of  him  that  sent  me  "  (Johniv.  34) ; 
not,  "  the  way  or  means  of  procuring  my  meat ; " 
but  "  my  meat  consists  in  doing,"  &c.  "  This  is  the 
message  that  ye  heard  from  the  beginning,  That  we 
should  love  one  another  "  (1  John  iii.  11) :  the  message 
consists  in  the  requirement  that  we  love  one  another. 
"And  this  is  his  commandment,  That  we  should  believe 
on  the  name  of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ "  (1  John  iii.  28) : 
his  commandment  consists  in  the  requirement  that  wo 


THE   SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  61 

believe,  &c.  "  And  this  is  love,  that  we  [should]  walk 
after  his  commandments  "  (2  John  6),  —  not,  this  is  the 
way  or  means  to  secure  love  ;  but  practical  love  con- 
sists in  so  walking.  In  the  same  verse,  "  This  is  the 
commandment,  That  as  ye  have  heard  from  the  begin- 
ning ye  should  walk  in  it "  [i.e.  love]  ;  in  other  words, 
the  commandment  consists  in  this  injunction ;  or,  walk- 
ing in  love  constitutes  the  commandment,  or,  according 
to  Liicke,  the  sum  of  the  commandments.  "  What  is 
my  reward,  then  ?  [this]  that,  when  I  preach  the 
gospel,  I  may  make  the  gospel  without  charge,  that  I 
abuse  not  my  power  in  the  gospel ; "  i.e.  my  reward 
consists  in  this,  or  this  constitutes  my  reward.  "  And 
this  is  the  Father's  will  which  hath  sent  me,  that  of 
all  which  he  hath  given  me  I  should  lose  nothing  " 
(John  vi.  39) :  not,  this  is  the  way  or  means  of  securing 
the  Father's  will  (though  that  is  doubtless  true)  ;  but 
the  Father's  will  consists  in  this  purpose.  This  thought 
and  form  of  speech  are  repeated  in  the  following  verse. 
The  above  examples  include  the  chief,  if  not  the  only 
cases  of  this  peculiar  construction  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. And  we  think  that  the  intelligent  reader  will 
see  that  they  do  not  justify  the  interpretation,  "  This  is 
the  way  or  means  of  life  ;  "  but  they  do  most  emphat- 
ically sustain  the  meaning :  "  Eternal  life  consists  in 
knowing  thee  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ 
whom  thou  hast  sent."  He  will  also  be  prepared  to 
learn  that  the  very  best  modern  biblical  scholars,  with 
almost  one  accord,  Olshausen,  Tholuck,  Alford,  De 
Wette,  Meyer,  Liicke,  and  others,  agree  in  this  inter- 
pretation. Says  Olshausen,  "  The  idea  must  not  be  su- 
perficialized  by  the  interpretation  that  the  knowledge 


62  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

of  God  is  one  of  the  means  to  the  attainment  of  eter- 
nal life  (as  if  the  words  ran :  r\  ^corj  aicoviog  egj^reu 
dia  rrjg  yvcoaecog^)"  And  De  Wette  admirably  says. 
"This  is — therein  consists  —  the  eternal  life;  not,  this 
is  the  means  of  the  eternal  life ;  for  the  vital  knowl- 
edge of  God  and  of  Christ  is  itself  the  eternal  life, 
which  is  a  life  already  beginning  here,  and  penetrating 
the  whole  life  of  the  human  spirit."  Olshausen  sums 
up,  "In  faith  and  knowledge,  consequently,  eternal 
life  is  embraced."  Several  of  these  commentators 
quote  the  felicitous  statement  of  the  ancient  father, 
Irenaeus :  "  To  live  without  life  is  impossible  ;  but  the 
existence  of  life  is  derived  from  the  participation  of 
God ;  but  the  participation  of  God  is  to  know  God,  and 
to  enjoy  his  goodness." 

Here,  then,  is  brought  distinctly  to  view  an  important 
fact  connected  with  the  Scripture  use  of  this  mode  of 
expression.  Inasmuch  as  the  biblical  representation 
thus  clearly  presents  "  eternal  life "  as  a  condition 
or  process  commencing  in  this  world,  and  running  on 
in  the  next  world  for  ever,  but  receiving  in  the  other 
world  its  consummation  and  glory ;  so  only  can  we 
readily  and  fully  explain  the  fact,  that,  as  the  minds  of 
the  sacred  writers  dwell  on  the  one  or  the  other  por- 
tion of  its  progress,  their  speech  will  apply  chiefly  now 
to  the  present  life,  now  to  the  world  to  come  :  some- 
times, too,  they  view  it  as  a  process  »r  activity  of  the 
soul ;  sometimes  as  a  glorious  result,  and  even  reward, 
lying  in  the  future.  A  similar  remark  applies  to  the 
use  of  the  term  "  death."  For,  though  both  these  phrases 
designate  spiritual  states,  they  designate  those  states 
always  with  a  direct  or  implied  reference  to  certain 


i 


THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  63 

issues  or  consummations  growing  out  of  the  present 
state.  Sometimes  the  glorious  blessedness  on  the  one 
hand,  and  perhaps  still  oftener  the  elaborated  and  aw- 
ful woe  of  a  perverted  being  on  the  other,  in  which 
they  issue,  are  distinctly  held  forth  as  the  most  inviting 
promise  and  the  most  terrific  threat,  —  each  under  the 
name  of  life  and  of  death.  And  as  in  Rom.  ii.  7,  the 
synonym  of  eternal  life  in  its  culmination  is  given  as 
glory,  honor,  incorruption ;  so  on  the  other  hand 
'  death  "  and  "  perishing"  (i.  32  and  ii.  9)  find  their 
expansion  in  "  indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation  and 
anguish."  In  all  this  we  are  not  prescribing  to  the 
word  of  God,  but  simply  following  its  guidance. 

This  particular  point  now  suggested  —  the  variant 
aspects  of  life  and  death,  covered  at  different  times  by 
the  same  terms  —  and  our  general  position  as  to  their 
meaning,  are  both  of  them  illustrated  and  positively 
sustained  by  another  common  Scripture  phrase,  "  the 
kingdom  of  heaven." 

"  To  inherit  the  kingdom  of  heaven  "  is  an  expres- 
sion in  more  than  one  respect  parallel  to  "  having 
eternal  life."  In  the  representation  of  the  final  judg- 
ment (Matt.  xxv.  34,  &c),  the  righteous  are  invited  to 
"  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  foun- 
dation of  the  world  ;  "  and,  in  the  closing  statement, 
we  are  told  they  shall  go  away  "  into  life  eternal."  So 
in  the  history  of  the  rich  young  man,  the  inquiry  was 
for  "  eternal  life  ;  "  and  the  reply,  "  If  thou  wilt  enter 
into  life,  keep  the  commandments."  But,  when  the 
young  man  had  gone,  the  Savior's  remark  was,  that 
"  a  rich  man  shall  hardly  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 


64  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

heaven" — "  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God"  (Matt, 
xix.  16-24). 

Now,  this  parallel  phrase,  "  the  kingdom  of  heaven," 
amply  confirms  our  interpretation  of  "  eternal  life," 
though  possessing  a  still  broader  diversity  of  applica- 
tion. Its  most  distinct  prediction  appears  in  Daniel  ii. 
and  vii.,  where  four  successive  human  monarchies  are 
to  be  followed  by  a  kingdom  which  the  God  of  heaven 
will  set  up.  Now,  without  pausing  to-  remark  on  the 
folly  that  should  pertinaciously  narrow  down  the  "  king- 
dom" to  a  mere  material  state  like  the  Babylonish  or 
the  Medo-Persian,  as  equaled  by  a  similar  persistency 
regarding  the  use  of  the  word  "  life,"  let  us  look  at  the 
New  Testament  idea  of  the  kingdom  of  God  and  Christ. 
It  is  represented  as  erected  in  this  world,  and  flowing 
on  to  its  completion  and  glory  in  the  world  to  come. 
And,  what  especially  concerns  our  argument,  it  is  rep- 
resented, in  its  relation  to  the  individual  believer,  as  a 
spiritual  state  which  he  actually  enters  upon  in  this 
world  :  "  Who  hath  delivered  us  from  the  power  of 
darkness,  and  hath  translated  us  into  the  kingdom  of 
his  dear  Son  "  (Col.  i.  13).  "  For  the  kingdom  of  God 
is  not  meat  and  drink,  but  righteousness,  and  peace, 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost "  (Rom.  xiv.  17).  iC  Behold, 
the  kingdom  of  God  is  within  [probably,  "  among  "] 
you"  (Luke  xvii.  21).  "  Thou  art  not  far  from  the 
kingdom  of  God  "  (Mark  xii.  34).  This  kingdom,  as 
represented  in  the  parables  of  the  mustard-seed  and 
the  little  leaven,  begins  with  small  beginnings,  and 
proceeds  with  a  gradual  and  steady  increase  in  the 
believer's  heart,  as  well  as  abroad  in  the  world,  and 


THE   SCRIPTURE   ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  65 

issues  in  endless  joy,  when  the  Son  of  man  cometh  in 
liis  kingdom  with  power  and  great  glory.  The  repre- 
sentation in  this  form  is  precisely  kindred  with  the 
other,  of  a  state  or  process  commencing  here,  and  con- 
tinuing till  it  is  consummated  in  heaven.  And,  fur- 
thermore, the  phrase  "  kingdom  of  heaven  "  is  used 
with  the  same  and  greater  variety  of  application,  ac- 
cording as  it  is  necessary  to  present  one  or  another 
aspect  of  the  great  idea,  the  "  subjection  of  all  things 
to  God  in  Christ."  Now  it  is  applied  to  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Christian  life  ("  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
like  unto  a  merchantman  seeking  goodly  pearls  ")  ; 
now  to  its  progress  in  the  believer ;  now  to  the  nature 
of  the  principle  ;  now  chiefly  to  its  consummation,  and 
that,  too,  considered  as  a  state  of  blessedness  and  re- 
ivard,  —  "inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you."  It 
has  still  other  applications  to  the  outward  aspects  and 
relations  of  religion,  with  which  we  are  not  now  con- 
cerned. But,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  individual  be- 
liever, its  applications  describe  the  same  process  which 
we  have  found  to  be  set  forth  under  the  term  "  life," 
commencing  in  this  world,  and  continuing  uninter- 
rupted for  ever.  On  the  other  hand,  a  similar  continu- 
ous state  and  process,  having  its  beginning  in  time  and 
its  issue  in  eternity,  is  indicated  of  those  who  are  here 
under  "  the  power  [authority]  of  darkness,"  are  "  full 
of  darkness,"  "love  darkness,"  "  work  the  works  of  dark- 
ness," are  "  darkness,"  and  being  thus  united  on  earth 
with  the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world,  are  with 
them  to  be  cast  into  outer  darkness,  yea,  "  blackness 
of  darkness  for  ever." 

Certain  other  expressions,  closely  allied  in  meaning 

5 


60  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

to  the  word  "  life,"  point  in  the  same  direction.  The 
Christian  is  "  a  new  creature,"  "  created  in  Christ 
Jesus  unto  good  works ; "  he  is  "  born  again,"  "  be- 
gotten "  of  God.  These  terms  clearly  describe  the 
Christian's  present  condition,  and  they  indicate  the 
bestowment  already  of  a  life  from  God. 

The  same  great  thought  of  a  life  already  begun  from 
God  lies  everywhere  on  the  face  of  the  New  Testament, 
under  the  designation  of  a  present  sonship,  and  often 
with  a  reference  forward  to  its  glorious  issue.  "  Be- 
loved, now  are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet 
appear  what  we  shall  be  ;  but  we  know  that  when  he 
shall  appear  we  shall  be  like  him."  * 

The  same  view  of  a  present  life  and  death  is  abun- 
dantly set  forth  under  the  form  of  a  vital  and  fruit- 
bearing  union  to  Christ,  or  a  withered  and  sinful  sepa- 
ration. "  I  am  the  vine,  ye  are  the  branches ;  he  that 
abideth  in  me  and  I  in  him,  the  same  bringeth  fortli 
much  fruit ;  for  without  me  ye  can  do  nothing.  If  a 
man  abide  not  in  me,  he  is  cast  forth  as  a  branch,  and 
is  withered ;  and  men  gather  them,  and  cast  them  into 
the  fire,  and  they  are  burned  "  (John  xv.  5,  6).  (It  is 
to  be  noted  that  the  same  essential  fact  here  denoted 
by  the  withered  branch  is,  in  Isa.  v.  2,  somewhat  dif- 
ferently expressed  by  the  vine  bringing  forth  "  wild 
grapes.")  This  vital  union  to  Christ  is  everywhere 
set  forth  as  being  "  in  Christ,"  or  as  having  Christ  "  in 
us."  The  time  of  that  union,  as  well  as  its  present 
effect,  is  defined  in  2  Cor.  v.  17 :  "  Therefore  if  any 

*  So  in  Rom.  viii.  23,  where  our  translation  misses  the  real  sense,  "  wait- 
ing out  the  adoption  "  (airsfcdexops'i'Oi),  i.e.  looking  for  its  completion  rather 
than  simply  "  waiting  for  it." 


THE  SCRIPTURE   ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  67 

man  be  in  Christ  Jesus,  he  is  a  new  creature :  old 
things  are  passed  away  ;  behold,  all  things  are  become 
new."  Its  date  is  conversion  ;  its  effect,  a  new  creature. 
Its  nature  as  a  vital,  a  life-producing  union,  is  strongly 
brought  out,  where  Paul  says,  "  I  live,  yet  not  I,  but 
Christ  liveth  in  me  ;  and  the  life  which  I  now  live  in 
the  flesh  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God."  "  Ye 
are  dead,  and  your  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God. 
When  Christ  who  is  our  life  shall  appear,  then  shall  ye 
also  appear  with  him  in  glory"  (Col.  hi.  3).  It  is  set 
forth  under  the  symbol  of  the  union  between  the  mem- 
bers and  the  head,  and  of  the  temple  built  with  living 
stones  upon  Christ,  the  living  and  the  chief  corner-stone ; 
and,  in  various  forms  of  allusion,  runs  through  the  New 
Testament. 

But  we  have  not  yet  seen  how  deep  the  view  which 
we  maintain  lies  in  the  whole  Word  of  God,  and  how 
it  is  re-enforced  on  every  hand,  till  we  have  contem- 
plated another  Scripture  form  of  statement, —  that  of 
health  and  disease.  In  this  mode,  the  sinning  (and 
often  at  the  same  time  suffering)  are  represented  as 
those  in  whom  the  true  functions  of  life  are  now,  in 
part,  impaired  or  gone,  needing  and  perhaps  receiving 
the  healing  power  of  the  Great  Physician.  Sometimes 
they  are  spoken  of  as  blind,  deaf,  lame,  insensible  ; 
sometimes  deeply  wounded ;  sometimes  desperately 
sick ;  while  deliverance  is  healing  mercy.  The  repre- 
sentation is  found  alike  in  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
New.  "  Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead  ?  is  there  no  phy- 
sician there  ?  Why,  then,  is  not  the  health  of  the 
daughter  of  my  people  recovered  ?  "  (Jer.  viii.  22.) 
"Lest  they  see  with  their  eyes,  and  hear  with  their  ears, 


68  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

—  and  convert,  and  be  healed  "  (Isa.  vi.  10).  "  With 
his  stripes  we  are  healed  "  (Isa.liii.  5).  u  Behold,  I  will 
bring  it  [Jerusalem]  health  and  cure,  and  I  will  cure 
them,  and  will  reveal  unto  them  the  abundance  of 
peace  and  truth  "(Jer.  xxxiii.  6)  ;  and  the  cure  is  ex- 
plained in  the  verses  following  as  restoring  their  cap- 
tivity, cleansing  them  from  their  iniquity,  pardoning 
their  iniquities,  and  procuring  them  goodness  and 
prosperity.  . "  Return,  ye  backsliding  children,  and  I 
will  heal  your  backslidings  "  (Jer.  iii.  22).  Among  nu- 
merous other  passages  of  the  same  character,  in  many 
of  which,  however,  the  idea  of  punishment  is  entirely 
predominant,  see  Isa.  i.  5,  6  ;  xxx.  26  ;  Jer.  vi.  14  ; 
xxx.  12,  13, 14,  17  ;  xl.  11  ;  Hos.  v.  13  ;  vi.  1.  The 
Saviour  resumes  the  same  thought :  "  They  that  be 
whole  need  not  a  physician,  but  they  that  are  sick  " 
(Matt.  ix.  12).  "  Lest  they  should  be  converted,  and  I 
should  heal  them  "  (Matt.  xiii.  15).  His  miracles  of 
outward  healing  are  confessedly  symbolical  of  the  work 
he  came  to  work  on  the  spirit,  which  he  sometimes 
wrought,  and  announced  in  the  very  act  of  outward 
cure  :  "  Whether  is  easier  to  say,  Thy  sins  be  forgiven 
thee  ;  or  to  say,  Take  up  thy  bed,  and  walk  ?  But  that 
ye  may  know  that  the  Son  of  man  hath  power  on  eartli 
to  forgive  sins,  then  saith  he  to  the  sick  of  the  palsy, 
Arise,  take  up  thy  bed  and  go  unto  tkinc  house."  And 
so  closely  are  the  symbol  and  its  object  wrapped  to- 
gether in  the  sacred  word,  that  the  same  passage  of 
Isa.  liii.  4,  "  He  hath  borne  our  griefs,  and  carried  our 
sorrows,"  is  quoted  by  Matt.  (viii.  17),  and  applied 
to  Christ's  miracles  of  bodily  healing,  and  by  Peter  to 
his  atoning  sacrifice  for  our  sins  (1  Pet.  ii.  24).    It  was 


THE   SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  69 

"  when  we  were  yet  without  strength  [sick,  aafavav], 
Christ  died  for  the  ungodly  "  (Rom.  v.  6)  ;  and  the 
leaves  of  the  tree  of  life  are  "  for  the  healing  of  the 
nations  "  (Rev.  xxii.  2).  Thus,  even  in  that  outward 
healing,  the  almost  constant  call  for  "faith  to  be 
healed." 

A  kindred  mode  of  conception  represents  the  soul 
as  working  truly  and  happily  on  the  one  hand,  or 
falsely  and  disastrously  on  the  other,  under  the  image 
of  the  "  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God,"  and  the  "  slave- 
ry "  of  sin. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  notion  of  two  continu- 
ous moral  states  of  the  human  soul,  each  commen- 
cing in  this  life  with  certain  tendencies  distinctly 
marked,  and  reaching  across  into  the  other  world  with 
developments  and  issues  in  kind,  only  mature  and  un- 
mingled,  is  no  superficial  view,  depending  on  the  casual 
use  of  a  word  here  and  there,  but  a  settled  pervading 
doctrine  of  the  Bible,  set  forth  in  a  variety  of  modes, 
—  life,  health,  the  kingdom  of  God,  light,  being  born 
again,  the  new  creation,  the  new  man,  sonship,  liberty, 
on  the  one  hand ;  death,  disease,  and  loss  of  function, 
darkness,  the  old  man,  continuance  in  the  kingdom  of 
Satan,  slavery  to  sin,  on  the  other.  A  man  may  as 
« asily  deny  the  evangelical  system,  as  deny  this  teach- 
ing, which  underlies  the  whole  system  of  the  sacred 
volume.  Of  these  kindred  forms  of  speech,  "  life " 
and  "  death"  are  the  most  striking. 

We  have  seen  that  "  life  "  does  not  literally  signify 
mere  existence,  nor  death  non-existence  ;  that  life  des- 
ignates a  certain  functional  power,  attended  with  cer- 


70  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

tain  processes  and  results,  —  something  superadded  to 
existence ;  that  the  usage  of  common  life  in  various 
tongues,  the  language  of  the  Bible  included,  employs 
the  term  in  a  pregnant  sense  to  comprise  true  action, 
welfare,  and  prosperity  ;  that  as  the  Word  of  God  con- 
templates man  chiefly  as  a  moral  being,  so  it  predicates 
the  term  of  his  spiritual  condition  and  activity,  with 
their  tendencies  and  results  —  and  death  of  the  oppo- 
site. We  have  cited  instances  of  this  usage  in  the 
varied  modes  of  simple  statement,  antithesis,  definition, 
and  clear  discrimination,  not  fairly  explicable  other- 
wise ;  we  have  seen  how  it  meets  the  circumstances  of 
its  origin ;  have  found  certain  seeming  inconsistencies 

9 

of  usage  explained  by  the  fundamental  conception; 
and  the  whole  sustained  by  similar  kindred  represen- 
tations, marked  with  the  same  peculiarities,  and  all,  in 
like  manner,  derived  from  outward  and  physical  phe- 
nomena. 

To  complete  the  showing  would  carry  us  over  a  large 
number  of  passages,  where,  though  the  proof  is  not  so 
absolute  and  unanswerable,  the  real  meaning  is  so  easi- 
ly recognized  that  intelligent  commentators  and  lexi- 
cographers have  recognized  it  with  one  accord.  They 
are  so  understood  without  force,  or  continual  "  prolep- 
sis."  They  speak  in  the  present  tense.  They  refer  to 
an  immediate  influence.  Thus  all  those  passages  con- 
cerning Christ :  "  In  him  was  life,  and  the  life  was  the 
light  of  men."  "  I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life." 
"  I  am  the  bread  of  life."  "  Christ,  who  is  our  life." 
"The  life  was  manifested."  "He  giveth  life  unto  the 
world."  "For  the  life  was  manifested,  and  we  have 
seen  it  and  bear  witness,  and  show  unto  you  that  eter- 


THE   SCRIPTURE   ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  J\ 

nal  life  which  was  with  the  Father,  and  was  manifested 
unto  us."  Such  allusions  as  these  :  "  The  command- 
ment which  was  ordained  unto  life  I  found  to  be  unto 
death.  Gentiles  .  .  .  alienated  from  the  life  of  God 
through  the  ignorance  that  is  in  them.  As  being  heirs 
together  of  the  grace  of  life.  To  the  one  we  are  a  savor 
of  life  unto  life,  to  the  other  of  death  unto  death.  His 
commandment  is  life  everlasting.  Among  whom  ye 
shine  as  lights  in  the  world,  holding  forth  the  word  of 
life.  To  be  carnally  minded  is  death,  but  to  be  spirit- 
ually minded  is  life  and  peace.  The  just  shall  live  by 
faith.  And  the  law  is  not  of  faith,  but  the  man  that 
doeth  them  shall  live  in  them.  For  we  also  are  weak 
in  him,  but  we  shall  live  with  him  by  the  power  of  God 
toward  you.*  Who  died  for  us  that,  whether  we  wake 
or  sleep,  we  should  live  with  him.  Always  bearing 
about  in  the  body  the  dying  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  the 
life  also  of  Jesus  might  be  made  manifest  in  our  body. 
So,  then,  death  worketh  in  us,  but  life  in  you.  As  dying, 
and  behold  we  live.  Who  his  own  self  bare  our  sins 
in  his  own  body  on  the  tree,  that  we,  being  dead  to  sin, 
should  live  unto  righteousness.  A  crown  of  life  which 
the  Lord,  the  righteous  judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day. 
The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are  spirit  and 
they  are  life.  He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  life  ;  and  he 
that  hath  not  the  Son  of  God  hath  not  life.  Search  the 
Scriptures ;  for  in  them  ye  think  ye  have  eternal  life,  and 
they  are  they  which  testify  of  me.  And  ye  will  not  come 
unto  me  that  ye  might  have  life.     Now,  if  the  fall  of 

*  Mr.  Hudson  in  quoting  this  verse  cuts  off  the  last  two  words,  u  toward 
you,"  in  which,  according  to  Alford,  De  Wette,  and  others,  lies  the  emphasis 
of  the  rerse. 


72  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

them  be  the  riches  of  the  world,  what  shall  the  receiv- 
ing of  them  be  but  life  from  the  dead  ?  " 

Now,  as  these  two  states  are  but  commenced  in  this 
world,  and  are  hastening  towards  a  maturity  in  the 
other  world,  glorious  or  terrific,  in  which  all  that  is 
excellent  in  the  one  and  loathsome  in  the  other  will 
have  brought  forth  their  harvests ;  so  the  Scripture 
designates  the  totality  of  well-being  in  the  one  harvest, 
and  of  woe  in  the  other,  by  the  name  of  that  condition 
—  the  seed-grain  —  of  which  they  are  but  the  luxuriant 
growth ;  and  calls  the  one  retribution  pre-eminently 
life,  eternal  life  ;  and  the  other  death,  the  second  death. 
Naturally ;  for  all  that  is  inviting  in  the  one  and 
fearful  in  the  other  is  but  the  continuation  of  the  pro- 
cess, the  eternal  fruiting  of  the  tree. 

Accordingly,  in  a  large  number  of  cases,  these  words 
are  used  to  designate  that  coming  harvest,  —  the  retri- 
butions of  another  world.  On  this  point  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  accumulate  proof-texts,  since  there  is  no  con- 
troversy about  the  general  fact.  We  hold,  as  fully  as 
do  the  advocates  of  annihilation,  that  the  future  state 
of  the  righteous  is  very  commonly  called  life,  eternal 
life  ;  and  the  doom  of  the  wicked,  though  less  constant- 
ly, death,  the  second  death.  But  we  also  hold,  that  so 
far  from  designating,  when  thus  applied,  the  simple 
fact  of  continued  existence  on  the  one  hand,  and  final 
extinction  of  existence  on  the  other,  these  terms  most 
clearly  set  forth  the  whole  complex  and  then  consum- 
mated well-being,  and  the  whole  complex  and  com- 
pleted ill-being,  of  God's  rational  creatures  in  their  state 
of  perpetual  retribution.  They  are  "comprehensive 
terms,  bearing  not  merely  a  physical,  but  a  spiritual 


THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  73 

import.  They  designate  primarily  certain  states  of  the 
soul,  each  of  which  embraces  many  aspects  and  conse- 
quences :  they  gather  up  the  totality  of  those  aspects 
and  consequences,  and  thus  often  chiefly  the  weal  and 
woe  which  stand  out  so  prominent  at  last.* 

The  view  which  we  have  thus  explained  has  this 
additional  mark  of  truthfulness,  that  it  is  thoroughly 
consistent  with  itself.  We  start  with  one  fundamental 
conception  of  the  nature  of  life,  which  conforms  to  the 
truly  literal  meaning  of  the  word,  is  supported  by  the 
higher  uses  of  human  speech,  and  meets  all  the  shades 
of  application  in  the  Scriptures,  even  when  seemingly 
exceptional.  We  have  confined  ourselves  to  the  usage 
of  the  terms  themselves,  reserving  for  its  proper  place 
the  positive  proof  that  the  death  of  the  sinner  consists 
in  a  state  of  conscious  suffering. 

We  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  terms  "life"  and 

*  In  his  later  book  (Christ  our  Life),  Mr.  Hudson  virtually  admits  this 
important  point  in  regard  to  the  word  fc  life."  "  We  disclaim  the  representa- 
tion that  'eternal  life'  in  our  view  signifies  mere  eternal  existence.  We 
certainly  believe  in  eternal  blessedness,  and  we  think  this  implied  in  tire 
phrase  '  eternal  life.'  For  all  real  life,  according  to  its  proper  laws,  is  joy- 
ous, and  can  not  be  otherwise.  Blessedness  or  well-being  is  the  natural  and 
legitimate  adjective  ser.se  of  the  phrase  in  question  ;  eternal  being,  its  sub- 
stantive import.  We  insist  on  this  part  of  its  meaning,  as  implying  that 
they  who  have  not  eternal  life  do  not '  live  for  ever.'  "  p.  4. 

The  turn  is  characteristic  and  futile.  For  (1)  the  statement  concern- 
ing the  substantive  and  adjective  meaning  of  the  word  is  incorrect.  Exist- 
ence is  not  the  thing  asserted,  though  it  is  involved  in  "  life: "  life  is  always 
and  distinctively  more  than  being.  (2)  Blessedness  or  well-being  is  more 
than  "  implied:"  it  is  the  thing  asserted  in  the  Scripture  statements.  Is  any 
man  bold  enough  to  maintain  that  these  announcements  of  "  eternal  life," 
which  form  the  constant  burden  of  the  Scripture  promises,  nrean  to  include 
perfection,  glory,  blessedness,  and  all  manner  of  well-being,  only  by  infer- 
ence? Is  it  chiefly  and  principally  being  that  they  so  enthusiastically  set 
forth?  or  is  it  the  highest  perfection  of  well-being  f  The  answer  will  decide 
what  is  the  "substantive  "  meaning  of  eternal  life  in  the  Scriptures. 


74  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

"  death,"  on  which  so  largely  depends  the  theory  of  anni- 
hilation, not  only  give  it  no  countenance  whatever,  but 
teach  a  very  different  doctrine.  The  so-called  literal 
meaning  is  a  perversion  of  language ;  and  the  contin- 
ual resort  to  assertions  of  prolepsis,  supposed  death, 
and  the  like,  will  not  relieve  the  difficulties  of  the  the- 
ory, nor  satisfy  the  statements  of  God's  word. 

But,  as  certain  objections  are  or  may  be  made  to  this 
view,  this  important  branch  of  the  subject  can  not 
properly  be  dismissed  without  giving  them  some  at- 
tention. 

No  person  who  has  reflected  upon  the  most  familiar 
use  of  language  will  object  that  we  find  both  a  higher 
and  a  lower  sense  in  the  use  of  these  terms  in  Scrip- 
ture. When  it  is  written,  u  Look  unto  me  all  ye  ends 
of  the  earth,  and  be  ye  saved  ;  "  "  Hearken,  and  your 
soul  shall  live ; "  "  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor 
and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest,"  —  is  it 
a  physical  or  a  spiritual  looking,  hearkening,  coming, 
that  are  intended  ?  and  is  any  difficulty  created  by  the 
fact,  that,  in  scores  and  hundreds  of  other  instances 
in  the  Bible,  these  words  designate  only  bodily  acts  ? 
The  reigning  of  Christ  over  his  people  is  a  very  differ- 
ent thing  from  the  "  reigning  "  of  Ahab  ;  yet  the  same 
word,  in  its  lower  and  its  higher  senses,  describes  them 
both.  "  Israel,"  primarily  the  personal  name  of  Jacob, 
is  also  abundantly  used  as  the  name  of  the  whole 
nation,  hi,s  descendants  ;  sometimes  of  the  ten  tribes ; 
and  sometimes,  in  a  higher  sense,  of  the  true  children 
of  God ;  e.g.,  "  They  are  not  all  Israel  which  are  of 
Israel"  (Rom.  ix.  6).     "  Zion  "  originally  designated 


THE   SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  75 

one  of  the  hills  of  Jerusalem,  and  occurs  with  that 
simple  meaning;  but  it  became  a  favorite  term  by 
which  God  addressed  his  people,  and  especially  as  the 
objects  of  his  love.  These  diverse  uses  of  words,  the 
higher  and  lower,  are  freely  mingled  in  the  sacred  vol- 
ume. Thus,  when  the  Saviour  had  just  cured  a  case  of 
both  bodily  and  spiritual  blindness,  he  said  (John  ix. 
39),  "For  judgment  am  I  come  into  this  world,  that 
they  which  see  not  might  see." 

In  a  similar  way,  the  lower  and  the  higher  meanings 
of  "life"  and  "death"  are  freely  scattered  through 
the  Word  of  God,  often  in  close  proximity,  and  usually 
to  be  discriminated  readily  by  the  subject  and  connec- 
tion. The  higher  sense  is  less  strongly  marked,  in 
general,  in  the  older  Scriptures.  This  fact,  however, 
only  corresponds  to  the  general  difference  of  the  two 
dispensations,  in  the  former  of  which  all  that  was  spir- 
itual was  both  symbolized  and  veiled  in  sensuous  forms. 
But  there  are  many  cases  in  the  Old  Testament  where 
this  usage  is  so  manifest,  that  not  only  the  mass  of 
common  Christians  and  evangelical  expositors,  but  even 
rationalist  scholars,  personally  indifferent,  have  found 
the  pregnant  meaning.  "Keep  thy  heart  with  all  dili- 
gence ;  for  out  of  it  are  the  issues  of  life  "  (Prov.  iv. 
23).  "In  the  way  of  righteousness  is  life;  and  in 
the  pathway  thereof,  there  is  no  death  "  (Prov.  xii.  28). 
"  The  law  of  the  wise  is  a  fountain  of  life,  to  depart 
from  the  snares  of  death  "  (Prov.  xiii.  14).  "  As  right- 
eousness tendeth  to  life,  so  he  that  pursueth  evil  pur- 
sueth  it  to  his  own  death"  (Prov.  xi.  19;  so  also,  iii. 
15-18;  x.  16,  17;  xiv.  27;  xix.  23).  "See,  I  have 
set  before  thee  this  day  life  and  good,  and  death  and 


76  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

evil."  "I  call  heaven  and  earth  to  record  this  day 
against  you,  that  I  have  set  before  you  life  and  death, 
blessing  and  cursing :  therefore  choose  life,  that  both 
thou  and  thy  seed  may  live"  (Deut.  xxx.  15, 19). 
"He  that  hateth  reproof  shall  die"  (Prov.  xv.  10). 
The  same  phraseology  runs  through  the  whole  eigh- 
teenth chapter  of  Ezekiel,  occurring  more  than  twenty 
times  ;  also  abundantly  in  the  thirty-third  chapter,  and 
elsewhere  ;  in  Jeremiah,  Hosea,  Psalms,  Nehemiah,  and 
other  portions  of  the  Old  Testament. 

The  reader  has  but  to  examine  these  passages  —  let 
him  read  through  the  eighteenth  chapter  of  Ezekiel,  for 
example  —  to  see  in  a  moment  that  the  words  "  live  " 
and  "  die  "  do  not  mean  simple  physical  life  and  death, 
nor  future  existence  and  annihilation.  He  can  not  fail 
to  see  that  they  are  comprehensive  terms,  somewhat 
vague,  no  doubt,  in  these  passages,  but  denoting  mani- 
fold tokens  of  God's  favor  and  of  his  displeasure. 
When  standing  by  themselves,  they  clearly  denote  the 
same  thing  as  when  coupled  with  the  explanatory 
phrases  "good  and  evil,"  "blessing  and  cursing" 
(Deut.  xxx.  15, 19).  Even  Gesenius  could  not  render 
them  less  than  "  welfare,  prosperity,  happiness,"  on  the 
one  hand,  and  "  ruin,  destruction,"  on  the  other  ;  and 
the  least  that  can  be  understood  of  "  death "  in  the 
eighteenth  of  Ezekiel,  and  elsewhere,  is  the  meaning 
which  Rosenmuller  adopts  from  Michaelis :  "  all  man- 
ner of  severer  punishment."  It  is  vain  to  cull  out  from 
the  neighboring  passages  (in  some  of  these  instances, 
e.g.  Deut.  xxx.),  and  put  forward  remarks  about  "  pro- 
longing their  days  in  the  land,"  as  though  this  ex- 
hausted the  idea.     This  is  but  one  trait  in  a  long  cata- 


THE   SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  77 

logue  of  blessings,  with  their  corresponding  curses, 
running  through  these  whole  chapters,  and  summed 
up  in  the  exhortation  (xxx.  19),  "  Therefore  choose 
life"  And,  in  this  very  portion  of  the  blessing,  the 
chief  emphasis  lies  clearly,  as  the  reader  may  see  by 
examining,  on  prolonging  their  days  in  the  land  of 
Canaan,  the  possession  of  the  promised  inheritance. 

In  connection  with  this  last  allusion,  let  us  observe 
more  carefully  an  admirable  instance  of  the  Scripture 
mode  of  promise,  strongly  illustrative  and  confirmatory 
of  the  view  we  are  now  defending.  It  is  becoming 
conceded  by  the  best  modern  interpreters,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  older  English  expositors,  that  nearly  all 
God's  outward  arrangements  with  his  earlier  people 
were  invested  with  a  spiritual  significance,  at  least  to 
the  true  servant  of  God.  Accordingly,  as  the  promises 
to  Abraham  and  his  seed  are  by  the  Apostle  Paul  ap- 
plied not  merely  or  chiefly  to  the  lineal  offspring,  but 
to  the  spiritual  descendants,  of  Abraham  ;  so  it  is  also 
distinctly  stated  in  Heb.  xi.  10,  13-16,  that  under  the 
promise  of  the  earthly  Canaan  was  inwrapped  and 
even  apprehended  a  "  heavenly  "  inheritance  :  "  For 
he  [Abraham]  looked  for  a  city  which  hath  founda- 
tions, whose  builder  and  maker  is  God.  .  .  .  These  all ' 
died  in  faith,  not  having  received  the  promises,  but 
having  seen  them  afar  off,  and  were  persuaded  of  them, 
and  embraced  them,  and  confessed  that  they  were 
strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the  earth.  For  they  that  say 
such  things  declare  plainly  that  they  seek  a  country. 
And  truly,  if  they  had  been  mindful  of  that  country 
whence  they  came  out,  they  might  have  had  opportu- 
nity to  have  returned ;  but  now  they  desire  a  better 


78  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

country,  that  is  a  heavenly."  A  similar  statement  oc- 
curs in  verses  39,  40,  of  the  same  chapter,  while  in  the 
fourth  chapter,  we  are  informed  that  the  "  rest "  which 
God  promised  his  ancient  people  was  not  that  to  which 
Joshua  led  them ;  and  the  Saviour  chose  to  couch  one 
of  the  beatitudes  in  a  similar  form,  "  Blessed  arc  the 
meek,  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth." 

This  striking  case  is  sufficient  (without  adding  oth- 
ers that  lie  at  hand)  to  show  how  God  chose  to  pre- 
sent spiritual  promises  of  the  highest  moment  under 
the  veil  of  outer  transactions  ;  and  also  how,  under 
the  older  dispensation,  he  chose  to  leave  those  topics 
comparatively  dim.  It  is  in  perfect  conformity  there- 
fore with  the  entire  method  of  that  dispensation,  that 
the  life  and  the  death  of  obedience  and  of  sin  should 
have  been  left  somewhat  undefined,  and  should  have 
been  enforced  largely  with  material  sanctions.  Still  the 
higher  and  comprehensive  meaning  of  the  terms  is 
there.*  The  Scriptures  throughout  are  consistent  with 
themselves  in  the  variant  use  of  this  phraseology. 

*  We  have  not  deemed  it  necessary  to  reply  more  at  large  to  the  objec- 
tion of  finding  two  meanings  to  one  word,  for  the  simple  reason  that  not 
only  does  every  page  in  the  Bible  answer  it,  but  a  man  has  only  to  look 
under  almost  any  word  in  the  dictionary,  with  its  list  of  secondary  mean- 
ings, to  see  its  futility.  It  will  weigh  only  with  the  illiterate.  Such  a  writer 
as  Mr.  Blain  turns  it  to  some  popular  account,  and  charges  the  translators 
with  "error,"  "corruption,"  and  "perverting  God's  word"  (Death,  not 
Life,  p.  30).  He  and  others,  the  Universalists  before  him,  have  made  a 
great  outcry  against  the  translation  in  Matt.  xvi.  25, 26,  where  ipvxvv  is  ren- 
dered both  "  life  "  and  "soul."  We  have  a  similar  and  incontrovertible 
instance  in  John  iii.  8,  in  which  nvedfza  is  both  "  wind  "  and  "  spirit."  A 
difference  of  meaning  is  demanded  by  the  "  so"  of  the  comparison;  and, 
while  the  meaning  "  spirit "  is  unquestioned,  the  meaning  "  wind,"  in  the 
first  instance,  is  proved  by  the  adjuncts,  — "  the  wind  bloweth,  .  .  .  and  thou 
hearest  the  sound  thereof."    With  reference  to  the  ipvxvv  of  Matt.  xvi.  25, 26, 


THE   SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  79 

Inasmuch  as  the  Word  of  God  thus  uses  language 
both  in  the  higher  and  the  lower  signification,  all  flings 
at  its  interpreters  for  so  understanding  it  fall  quite 
harmless.  Thus  says  Mr.  Blain,  "  It  is  a  notorious  fact, 
that,  in  our  theological  works,  a  nondescript  dictionary 
is   formed    with   definitions  as    follows :    To   be  dead 


and  the  fuller  passage  in  Mark  viii.  35-38,  it  may  be  remarked  (1)  A  differ- 
ence of  significations  is  indispensable  to  escape  a  flat  contradiction  in  the 
statement,  "  Whosoever  shall  lose  his  life  shall  save  it."  The  annihilation- 
ist  does  not  escape  this  necessity,  for  he  makes  one  life  the  life  here,  the 
other  "  the  resurrected  life  "  —  two  distinct  things,  though  couched  under 
one  word,  and  even  spoken  of  as,  though  identical, —  "  it."  (2)  The  word 
rpvxvi  designating  primarily  the  interior  invisible  principle,  sometimes  sig- 
nifies specially  the  life  which  was  connected  with  it,  and  sometimes  views 
it  as  the  seat  of  thought,  affection,  will,  i.e.  as  a  soul.  Instances  where  it 
means  life  need  not  be  given.  Instances  in  which  it  designates  the  soul  or 
its  affections  are  the  following:  Matt.  xi.  29;  xxii.  37;  John  x.  24;  Acts 
xiv.  2,  22,  and  many  others.  (In  one  instance  in  the  New  Testament  (Rev. 
vi.  9),  it  means  even  a  departed  spirit,  as  often  in  classic  Greek.)  (3)  In 
the  passage  before  us,  the  preceding  verse  shows  that  one  of  its  references 
is  to  the  natural  life  here;  the  passage  following,  especially  in  Mark,  proves 
the  other  reference  to  be  to  the  future  or  higher  welfare,  "  When  the  Son  of 
man  cometh  in  his  glory."  (4)  Still  more  particularly,  the  connection  of 
the  two  things,  not  alone  by  the  use  of  the  same  word,  but  the  blending 
of  them  in  one  common  pronoun,  "  Whosoever  will  save  his  life  shall  lose 
it"  renders  it  proper  to  carry  the  same  word  and  thought,  "life,"  through 
both  clauses  of  the  antithesis,  while  we  are  forced  to  understand  the  lower 
and  the  higher  life.  And  this  view  is  sustained  by  John  xii.  25.  (5)  The  best 
mode  of  translating  in  the  two  closing  questions,  "  What  shall  it  profit  a 
man  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?  or,  What  shall 
a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul?  "  may  admit  of  a  question.  In  favor 
of  the  view  of  Alford,  who  would  translate  "  life  in  the  higher  sense,"  is 
the  one  consideration  of  carrying  through  the  same  meaning  of  the  word 
and  the  same  shade  of  thought.  In  support  of  the  view  of  De  Wette,  Alex- 
ander, and  others  who  understand  the  soul  itself,  the  seat  of  that  life,  is  the 
more  common  meaning  of  tpvxf/  in  this  application,  the  similar  expression 
in  Luke  ix.  25,  "  lose  himself,"  and  the  very  fact  that  it  is  another  shade 
of  meaning,  and  that  a  climax.  The  plain  meaning  of  the  passage  is,  that 
he  who  will  lose  his  life  in  a  lower  sense  for  Christ,  shall  save  it  in  the 
highest  sense  conceivable. 


80  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

means  to  be  more  conscious ;  to  die  is  to  live  on  in 
woe  ;  to  lose  life  is  to  preserve  a  miserable  existence  ; 
life  means  happiness  ;  to  burn  up,  to  make  a  living 
salamander ;  to  destroy  is  to  preserve  whole  ;  to  de- 
vour, perish,  consume,  etc.,  means  to  make  indestruc- 
tible and  immortal."  And  Mr.  Hudson  writes  in  the 
same  strain  :  "  We  find  that  the  wicked  will  die,  and  yet 
not  die,"  etc.  Deferring  a  portion  of  these  terms  to  their 
proper  place,  and  waiving  some  inaccuracies,  we  accept 
the  statement  on  the  whole.  The  wicked  will  die,  and 
yet  in  another  sense  not  die  ;  for  "  to  die  is  to  live  on 
in  woe,"  as  Adam  began  to  do  on  that  day  when  he 
ate  the  forbidden  fruit.  "  To  be  dead,"  if  not  "  to  be 
more  conscious,"  is,  at  least,  to  be  in  a  state  of  intense 
action,  as  the  Ephesians,  while  dead  in  sins,  were 
"  walking  according  to  the  course  of  this  world,"  and 
"fulfilling  the  desires  of  the  flesh  and  of  the  mind." 
To  lose  life  in  one  sense  may  be  compatible  with  pre- 
serving a  miserable  existence  ;  just  as  to  lose  life  in 
another  sense  is  compatible  with  preserving  a  blessed 
existence,  or  simply  preserving  life  (John  xii.  25).  To 
those  who  are  disposed  to  make  such  flings  as  these,  it 
might  be  not  altogether  unsuitable  to  commend  the 
study  of  verses  4  and  5  of  Prov.  xxvi.,  in  one  of  which 
we  are  told,  "Answer  not  a  fool  according  to  his  folly  ;  " 
and  in  the  other,  "  Answer  a  fool  according  to  his 
folly." 

One  evasion  of  a  different  kind  is  brought  to  view  in 
the  above  quotations.  "  Life  means  happiness,"  says 
Mr.  Blain  concerning  our  interpretation.  And  Mr. 
Hudson  implies,  that,  according  to  the  opponents  of  an- 
nihilation,  life  means  "endless  felicity."     Mr.  Dobney 


THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  81 

also  assumes  that  we  understand  it  as  meaning  "  an 
eternity  of  bliss."  Much  of  the  speciousness  of  their  ar- 
guments turns  on  confining  the  higher  meaning  of  life, 
which  we  claim,  to  this  signification.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  this  is  a  great  misconception.  Endless  felicity, 
as  we  understand  the  Bible,  is  but  one  aspect  of  that 
true  life,  —  an  important  aspect,  but  not  the  most  im- 
portant, nor  by  any  means  the  radical  idea  of  that 
complex  term.  And  the  conclusiveness  of  our  view  is 
seen  in  the  fact  that  the  one  fundamental  conception 
of  the  phrase  easily  and  naturally  meets  all  the  various 
modes  of  its  usage. 

It  is  also  attempted  to  evade  the  view  now  presented, 
especially  in  connection  with  the  threat  of  death  as  the 
penalty  of  sin,  by  averring  that  we  make  the  death  it- 
self to  consist  in  sin  or  sinning.  Thus  Mr.  Hudson  in 
both  his  books,  substantially  :  Adam  did  not,  "  in  the 
day  "  when  he  ate  the  forbidden  fruit,  receive  tempo- 
ral or  physical  death,  nor  certainly  eternal  death,  i.e. 
future  misery ;  and  "  theologians  are  more  and  more 
conceding  that ■  spiritual  death  '  as  consisting  in  a  sin- 
ful state  should  not  be  called  penalty,  lest  God  should 
seem  to  punish  sin  with  sin."  *  And  again:  "  His  con- 
tinuing to  sin  can  not  be  called  his  punishment."  No 
doubt  this  is  adroitly  put,  but  is  very  easily  answered. 

*  Christ  our  Life,  p.  41 ;  see  also  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  167.  Mr.  Hudson  is 
replying  to  an  argument  which  some  bring  against  his  theory  of  death  by 
layitg  emphasis  on  the  phrase,  "  In  the  day  thou  eatest  thereof,  thou  shalt 
surely  die;"  whereas  Adam  did  not  become  extinct  on  that  day:  therefore 
the  M  death  "  was  something  different  from  extinction,  and  the  soul,  though 
dead,  La  yet  immortal.  We  have  not  cared  to  press  that  view.  Death 
might  that  very  day  have  begun  its  work  by  the  implantation  of  its  seed  in 
his  system ;  the  mortal  change  tending  steadily  to  the  end.  This  would 
meet  the  demands  of  the  statement. 
6 


82  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

Iii  the  act  of  sinning,  the  man  inflicted  a  permanent 
injury  on  his  whole  moral  nature  ;  an  incurable  wound, 
or  rather  disorder >  which  brought  with  it  false  work- 
ing, further  sinning  and  suffering,  internal  and  exter- 
nal, ripening  for  ever.  If  this  be  not  punishment,  thor- 
ough-going and  terrible,  what  is  punishment  ?  One 
disconnected  act  of  sin  may  not  be  the  penalty  of  an- 
other, or  of  itself;  but  when  the  first  involves  the  sin- 
ner in  sucli  entanglements  and  necessities,  or  begets  in 
him  such  uncontrollable  passion  or  folly,  as  to  lead  into 
the  second  and  all  its  disastrous  consequences,  is  not 
that  a  true  and  awful  punishment  ?  Is  it  not  one  of 
the  daily  and  most  fearful  penalties  of  crime  that  it 
leaves  no  way  of  retreat,  but  both  induces  and  often 
drives  the  criminal  to  plunge  ever  deeper  ?  Does  ha- 
bitual intoxication  carry  any  form  of  punishment  so 
dreadful  as  the  insane  passion  which  urges  the  victim 
again  and  again  hopelessly  to  the  cup,  and  thereby  to 
all  its  bitter  dregs?  "Spiritual  death,"  then,  if  that 
be  the  mode  by  which  it  shall  be  designated,  does 
not  consist  in  isolated  acts  of  sinning,  but  in  a  perma- 
nent disease  or  distortion  of  the  moral  nature,  a  proue- 
ness  to  sin,  a  hopeless  entanglement  with  it  and  all  its 
woes. 

Nor  does  it  avail  to  refer  to  passages  from  the  Bible, 
in  which  death  (as  well  as  its  opposite,  —  life)  has  the 
lower  meaning.  The  lower  does  not  preclude  other 
instances  of  the  higher. 

To  set  aside  the  force  of  the  Scriptures,  which  af- 
firm a  death  already  commenced,  and  therefore  not  a 
cessation  of  existence,  various  methods  are  adopted. 
But  the  chief  resort  is  to  the  figure  prolepsis,  antici- 


THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  83 

pation :  men  are  called  dead  because  soon  to  die.  Mr. 
Hudson  naively  remarks  of  this  word  prolepsis,  "  We 
shall  find  it  a  convenient  name."  He  certainly  does 
so. 

That  there  is  such  a  figure  as  prolepsis,  and  that 
there  are  instances  of  it  in  the  Bible,  there  is  no  occa- 
sion to  deny.  The  failure  of  this  appeal,  however, 
as  an  attempt  to  cut  down  the  meaning  of  the  word 
"  death,"  appears  in  several  ways.  1.  The  very  few  cases 
cited  as  proleptical  assertions  of  death  are,  in  several 
instances,  more  than  doubtful.  They  are  as  follows,  in 
Mr.  Hudson's  words  (when  speaking  of  the  threat 
"  Thou  shalt  surely  die  ")  :  "  Just  so  said  the  affrighted 
Egyptians  when  God  had  smitten  their  first-born,  *  We 
be  all  dead  men  ; '  and  the  trembling  Israelites,  when 
the  troop  of  Korah  was  destroyed,  *  Behold,  we  die ; 
we  perish,  we  perish.'  And  God  himself  employs  sim- 
ilar language  in  addressing  the  presumptuous  Abime- 
lech,  '  Behold,  thou  art  but  a  dead  man  for  the  woman 
which  thou  hast  taken.'  A  phrase  similar  to  that  in 
our  text  occurs  (Exod.  x.  28)  :  '  Get  thee  from  me  ; 
take  heed  to  thyself;  see  my  face  no  more  :  for,  in 
that  day  thou  seest  my  face,  thou  shalt  die.'  Yet 
Pharaoh  would  not  have  falsified  his  words  if  Moses, 
incurring  his  wrath,  had  lived  many  days  under  sen- 
tence of  death.  Still  more  in  point  is  the  passage  in 
1  Kings  ii.  36,  37,  where  Solomon  gives  charge  to 
Shimei  respecting  the  tenure  of  his  once  forfeited  life  : 
4  It  shall  be,  that  on  the  day  thou  goest  out  and  passest 
over  the  brook  Kidron,  thou  shalt  know  for  certain 
that  thou  shalt  surely  die.'  The  last  phrase  is  the 
same  as  in  Gen.  ii.  17,  '  Dying  thou  shalt  die ; '  and 


84  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

the  expression,  *  Thou  shalt  know  for  certain,'  makes 
no  difference,  since  Shimei  knew  his  danger  on  the 
fatal  day  no  more  certainly  than  before  :  the  circumlo- 
cution is  simply  emphatic."  Add  to  these  Matt.  ix. 
24,  "  The  maid  is  not  dead,  but  sleepeth,"  which  he 
interprets  "  is  called  not  dead,  because  she  will  soon  be 
alive  ;  "  and  Rom.  viii.  10  :  "  And,  if  Christ  be  in  you, 
the  body  indeed  is  dead  because  of  sin ;  but  the  spirit 
is  life  because  of  righteousness. " 

But  in  the  last  passage,  the  real  meaning  of  which 
has  been  much  controverted,  a  sound  interpretation  is 
that  of  Alford  :  "  The  body  still  remains  dead,  under 
the  power  of  death  physical,"  in  which  he  substantially 
agrees  with  De  Wette.  Death  is  going  on  in  the  body, 
doing  its  work. 

A  more  legitimate  exposition  of  Matt.  ix.  24  is  that 
of  Alexander :  "  She  really  was  dead,  but  only  for  a 
time,  and  therefore  not  dead  in  the  ordinary  accepta- 
tion of  the  term."  Physical  death  includes  not  only 
the  departure,  but  the  returnless  departure,  of  the 
spirit :  in  this  sense  she  was  not  dead.  Not  only  does 
this  exposition  retain  strictly  the  ordinary  lower  mean- 
ing of  the  word ;  it  is  confirmed  by  the  additional 
words  "  but  sleepeth"  showing  the  point  of  the  re- 
mark to  lie  in  the  return  of  the  spirit ;  and  still  fur- 
ther sustained  by  Christ's  words  in  reference  to  Laza- 
rus, where  he  begins  by  saying,  "  Our  friend  Lazarus 
sleepeth,  but  I  go  that  i"  may  awake  him  out  of  sleep; " 
and,  when  the  disciples  failed  to  comprehend,  he  plainly 
tells  them  "Lazarus  is  dead,"  though  immediately 
hinting  at  the  miracle  which  made  his  departure  a 
sleep  rather  than  a   common   death.     The   threat  of 


THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  85 

Pharaoh  affords  no  ground  for  asserting  a  prolepsis : 
he  threatens,  in  a  certain  contingency,  immediate 
death,  —  death  in  that  very  day.  There  is  no  cause 
for  saying  he  meant  any  thing  else.  The  threat  of  Sol- 
omon to  Shimei  was  also  doubtless  intended  to  intimate 
the  most  summary  vengeance.  And  we  find,  that,  to 
all  appearance,  the  execution  was  as  speedy  as  the  pos- 
sibility of  the  case  admitted. 

The  exclamation  "  We  die,  we  perish,"  meant,  in 
the  mouths  of  Israelites  and  Egyptians,  death  is  close 
upon  us,  just  before  us,  stares  us  in  the  face.  This 
may  be  called  a  prolepsis  ;  but  it  is  cutting  very  close 
to  do  so.  Just  so,  when  Jacob  and  Joseph  respectively 
were  about  to  die,  they  began  by  saying,  "  I  die  "  (Gen. 
xlviii.  21 ;  1.  24)  ;  though  Jacob  certainly  lived  long 
enough  to  utter  a  whole  chapter  of  predictions  after- 
wards. If  any  one  chooses  to  call  this  a  prolepsis,  it 
certainly  shows  how  small  a  matter  a  prolepsis  may  be, 
and  how  close  an  argument  may  come  to  a  quibble. 
In  the  two  remaining  passages,  "  We  be  all  dead  men," 
"Thou  art  but  a  dead  man,"  the  appearance  of  pro- 
lepsis is  more  distinct  from  the  use  of  the  word  "dead" 
in  the  translation  ;  whereas  the  expression  in  the  origi- 
nal is  precisely  the  same  as  that  of  Joseph  and  Jacob, 
translated  "  I  die,"  and  is  so  translated  in  these  pas- 
sages in  the  Septuagint,  —  "  Behold  thou  diestj"  "  We 
all  die."  *  But  if  we  waive  this  point,  and  admit,  ac- 
cording to  the  English  version,  a  prolepsis,  that  pro- 


*  The  Hebrew  f)ft  may  be  either  a  participle  used  for  the  finite  verb, 
or  an  adjective  used  as  a  substantive.  Fiirst  gives  it  either  way  in  these 
passages.    Perhaps  the  latter  usage  is  the  more  common. 


86  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

lepsis  is  not  only  obvious,  it  does  not  admit  the  possi 
bility  of  misapprehension. 

2.  So  far  as  any  of  these  can  be  considered  cases  of 
anticipation,  it  is  of  a  death  immediately  at  hand. 
"  We  die,"  "  We  be  all  dead  men,"  "  Thou  art  a 
dead  man,"  indicate  that  the  parties  are  at  death's 
door. 

3.  The  exclamation  of  "  trembling  Israelites  "  and 
"  frightened  Egyptians,"  as  Mr.  Hudson  calls  them, 
and  the  threats  of  Pharaoh  or  even  of  Solomon,  if  the 
latter  bore  upon  the  case,  are  but  a  slender  basis  on 
which  to  modify  the  solemn  legislation  of  God,  the 
calm  words  of  Christ,  or  the  doctrinal  utterances  of 
Paul  and  John. 

4.  It  is  vain  to  cite  even  clear  cases  of  prolepsis 
against  certain  other  passages  which  are  just  as  clearly 
not  proleptical.  We  have  adduced  many  passages  that 
can  not  be  so  understood  without  violence  both  to  text 
and  context,  but  which  yield  perfectly  easy  meanings,  ' 
consistent  with  each  other  and  with  the  radical  idea  of 
death,  and  with  scores  of  other  passages  in  which  the 
same  thought  occurs. 

5.  The  attempt,  in  this  mode,  to  evade  the  Scripture 
teaching  concerning  a  continuity  of  condition  from  this 
world  to  the  next,  called  death,  is  also  frustrated  by 
equally  numerous  representations  concerning  the  con- 
tinuance of  one  and  the  same  life,  extending  unbroken 
from  this  world  into  the  next. 

6.  The  resort  to  prolepsis  is  still  further  frustrated 
by  the  fact,  that  the  same  view  of  continuous  conditions, 
life  and  death,  is  also  presented  under  entirely  differ- 
ent forms  of  speech. 


TEE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  87 

7.  The  assertion  of  an  habitual  prolepsis  (for  habit- 
ual it  is  made)  on  the  subject  of  the  sinner's  death,  is 
itself  the  assertion  of  an  habitual  use  of  the  term  "  death  " 
concerning  the  sinner's  condition,  with  an  application 
quite  different  from  the  literal  or  lower  use  of  the  word. 
In  the  incautious  language  of  Mr.  Hudson  (Christ 
our  Life,  p.  54),  those  numerous  passages  "seem  to 
describe  a  coming  death  as  if  its  proper  work  were 
already  done."     Precisely  so. 

If  any  thing  were  wanting  to  show  the  entire  futility 
of  the  attempt  to  force  "  death  "  into  meaning  "  extinc- 
tion "  throughout  the  Bible,  it  is  found  in  the  complete 
breaking-down  of  that  attempt,  even  in  the  collateral 
uses  of  the  word.  There  are  numerous  instances  in 
which  the  word  "  dead  "  does  not  describe  bodily  de- 
cease, nor  the  moral  disease  or  future  doom  of  the  soul. 
In  these  cases,  the  meaning  will  be  found  a  legitimate 
outgrowth  of  the  radical  signification  which  we  advo- 
cate, and  entirely  incompatible  with  the  fundamental 
meaning  insisted  on  by  the  annihilationists.  Of  this 
class  are  such  expressions  as  these :  "  Likewise  reckon 
ye  also  yourselves  to  be  dead  indeed  unto  sin,  but  alive 
unto  God"  (Rom.  vi.  11).  "  For  I,  through  the  law, 
am  dead  to  the  law  "  (Gal.  ii.  19 ;  Rom.  vii.  4).  "  Faith 
without  works  is  dead  "  (Jas.  ii.  20).  "  Dead  works  " 
(Heb.  vi.  1 ;  ix.  14).  "The  law  being  dead"  (Rom. 
vii.  6).  "  Sin  was  dead  "  (Rom.  vii.  8). 

Now,  let  us  look  at  Mr.  Hudson's  exposition  of  the 
phrase  "  dead  to  sin,"  to  which  we  invite  the  reader's 
careful  attention.  After  a  faint  suggestion  (which  he 
does  not  venture  to  maintain)  to  translate  "  dead  by 


88  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

or  in  sin,"  he  proceeds  thus :  *  "  But  if  we  translate 
the  phrase  vexQovg  Trj  atActQtict,  '  dead  to  sin,'  the  sense 
of  the  term  'dead'  will  not  be  figurative,  but  quite 
literal.  Christians  have  no  life  in  the  direction  of  sin. 
Their  love  for  it  has  died  out  [the  Italics  are  ours], 
and  their  capacity  for  it  is  dying  out.  They  have  too 
much  of  the  life  that  quickens  to  retain  much  of  the 
life  that  kills."  Now,  let  the  reader  look  at  this  poor 
juggle.  What  is  "literal"  death?  It  is  extinction, 
says  Mr.  Hudson, — extinction  of  the  man  himself; 
first  the  body,  then  the  soul :  and  here  is  quite  "  lite- 
ral "  death,  —  "  Reckon  yourselves  to  be  dead."  What 
is  it  ?  extinction  of  the  man  ?  No  :  the  man  still  lives, 
and  is  to  live  on  for  ever :  only  his  "  love  for  sin " 
has  died  out.  But  even  this,  if  you  look  closely,  is 
but  a  figure  ;  for  not  a  faculty  has  perished,  —  only  he 
has  learned  to  turn  his  faculties  in  a  different  "  direc- 
tion." He  who  loved  sin  loves  God.  And  so  this 
"  UteraV  death,  this  annihilation  of  a  man,  turns  out 
to  be  a  transfer  of  his  affections  from  one  object  to 
another !  Can  it  be  that  a  man  should  not  see  that  he 
lias  surrendered  his  whole  argument,  and  admitted 
that  death  sometimes  denotes  a  spiritual  state  ?  Still, 
he  could  not  well  do  better.  It  is  true  that  the  term 
is  applied  in  a  different  moral  relation  from  the  cus- 
tomary one,  —  sufficiently  explained  by  its  adjuncts; 
yet  it  exemplifies  the  same  fundamental  meaning  for 
which  we  contend. 

Equally  ineffectual  is  his  method  of  dealing  with 
those  other  phrases,  "  dead  faith,"  "  dead  works,"  "  the 
law  being  dead,"  "  sin  was  dead."     "  Here,  however," 

*  Christ  our  Life,  p.  49. 


THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  89 

he  says,  "  death  is  predicated,  not  of  persons,  but  of 
things ;  which  certainly  can  not  be  spiritually  dead,  or 
4  dead  in  trespasses,'  as  that  phrase  is  commonly  under- 
stood." Well,  and  who  ever  supposed  that  they  could  ? 
But  they  can  be  dead  in  a  sense  fully  kindred  to  that 
meaning,  —  they  can  have  ceased  or  failed  to  perform 
their  proper  function,  can  be  destitute  of  all  true  effi- 
cacy, power.  And  this  is  precisely  what  is  meant. 
Accordingly,  in  the  next  sentence,  the  author  admits 
it  against  himself.  "  And  the  metaphor,  if  it  be  such 
[he  seems  to  agree  with  us  now,  that  it  is  hardly  a 
metaphor],  grows  out  of  the  conception  of  things  that 
have  force  and  power,  as  'vital,'  'living,'  and,  again, 
as  '  dead,'  when  they  have  lost  their  power."  This  is 
very  well  said,  but  not  strengthening  to  his  own  cause. 
And  now  he  proceeds,  endeavoring  to  give  the  matter 
a  different  direction  :  "  A  law  that  is  invalid  is  a  '  dead 
letter;'  and  the  parchment  that  contains  it  is  waste 
paper  [quite  figuratively ;  for  the  parchment  is  still 
carefully  preserved].  All  things  that  grow  out  of  date, 
or  obsolete,  may  be  very  properly  said  to  lose  all  the 
life  they  ever  had  ;  [how  much  is  that  in  the  case  of 
'  dead  works,'  for  example  ?]  and  the  forms  in  which 
they  were  embodied  in  due  time  crumble  away  and 
vanish,  or  remain  only  as  monuments  [some  diversity 
in  the  two  suppositions]  or  ruins  of  that  which  is  no 
more.  Nothing  could  be  more  like  literal  death."  But 
the  reader  will  be  pleased  to  observe  through  all  this 
haze  of  statement  that  the  "  law  "  itself  has  not  ceased 
to  exist,  nor  perhaps  been  repealed,  only  lost  its 
proper  functions  ;  that  sin  has  not  ceased  to  exist  or 
even  to  act  mightily,  but  simply  to  do  its  peculiar  work 


90  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL, 

on  this  individual ;  that  the  works  were  dead,  not  be- 
cause non-existent,  nor  because  they  had  lost  any  thing 
whatsoever,  but  because  they  never  had  any  vitalizing, 
functional  energy  Or  true  significance  in  them;  the 
faitli  was  dead,  not  as  having  perished,  but  because  it 
failed  to  exhibit  those  activities  which  are  the  marks 
and  issues  of  a  living  power  performing  its  true  work. 
Thus  on  each  and  all  these  collateral  uses  of  the  phra- 
seology, as  well  as  on  the  chief  instances,  the  narrow 
sensual  interpretation  breaks  down,  and  is  inconsistent 
with  itself;  while  the  plain  fundamental  meaning  which 
we  have  found  not  only  fits  the  main  drift  of  the  Bible 
and  its  particular  assertions,  but  adapts  itself  to  all 
the  incidental  uses  of  the  word,  even  the  opposites  of  a 
dead  faith  and  dead  works,  —  of  the  law  being  dead, 
and  of  being  dead  to  the  law ;  of  being  dead  in  sin, 
and  being  dead  unto  sin. 

We  have,  then,  on  the  one  hand,  the  legitimate  and 
ordinary  meaning  of  the  words  "  life,"  "  death,"  as  de- 
noting the  presence  or  the  absence  of  certain  functions 
and  activities  tending  to  certain  results  in  existent 
beings,  traced  in  their  higher  and  pregnant  application 
from  a  material  to  an  intellectual  and  spiritual  use 
even  in  common  life,  and  especially  through  the  Word 
of  God ;  we  find  that  fundamental  conception  consist- 
ently applying  in  cases  outwardly  diverse ;  and  espe- 
cially we  find  that  conception  to  be  the  one  which  will 
meet,  and  which  alone  will  fully  and  easily  meet,  all 
the  exigencies  of  that  phraseology  in  its  comprehensive 
power  as  applied  to  the  state  and  prospects  of  the  hu- 
man soul,  —  a  meaning  too,  not  dependent  on  a  word, 
but  impregnably  sustained  by  various  other  represen- 


THE  SCRIPTURE   ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  91 

tations  running  through  the  warp  and  woof  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  read  there  unmistakably  by  the  great  mass 
of  Christian  men. 

We  have,  on  the  other  hand,  a  meaning  assigned  to 
the  words  "life"  and  "death"  as  the  literal  meaning 
(a  meaning  ascribed  as  unwarrantably  as  it  is  ostenta- 
tiously and  pertinaciously)  ;  then  we  follow  the  writers 
who  set  out  with  this  literal  meaning  of  "  death  "  as 
"extinction,"  nol  only  to  find  the  meaning  breaking 
down  in  a  large  number  of  passages,  and  unsuitable  in 
a  great  number  more  ;  not  only  refuted  by  other  modes 
of  representation,  and,  as  we  are  presently  to  see, 
contradicted  by  positive  statements  to  the  contrary, 
but  we  track  them  in  their  devious  paths  casting  away 
this  "  literal "  meaning  piecemeal ;  making  it  now  a 
cause  of  death,  now  a  "  supposed  death  "  (when  there 
was  no  such  supposition)  ;  now  a  "  relative  loss,"  now 
a  "  loss  of  force  and  power ; "  now  the  state  of  "  the 
lovers  of  pleasure  regarded  as  heirs  of  death,"  now  a 
doomed  condition,  or  a  certainty  of  death  —  and  that 
certainty  spoken  of  as  already  existing  in  the  past  — 
while  yet  some  of  the  ver/  parties  have  now  the  cer- 
tainty of  not  dying  (Eph.  ii.)  ;  and  finally  this  "  lite- 
ral "  death  or  extinction  completely  vanishing  into  a 
transfer  of  a  living  man's  affections. 

The  truth  is,  that  no  man,  however  ingenious,  can 
carry  consistently  through  the  Bible  an  endeavor  to 
palm  off  this  spurious  meaning  of  "  extinction  "  upon 
the  word  "  death."  The  main  argument  is  a  total 
failure.* 

*  See  Appendix,  note  A. 


CHAPTER    IY. 

THE    SCRIPTURE    ARGUMENT    EXAMINED:    "DESTRUCTION," 

AND   OTHER  TERMS. 

HAYING  examined  the  terms  "  death  "  and  "life," 
which  constitute  the  most  plausible  portion  of 
the  argument  for  annihilation,  the  other  phraseology, 
which  is  treated  in  the  same  arbitrary  and  material 
mode,  may  be  more  briefly  dispatched.  The  same 
persevering  attempt  is  made  to  ingraft  the  meaning  of 
annihilation  upon  various  other  terms.  But  the  refu- 
tation is  easy. 

1.  Destroy,  Destruction.  "  The  Lord  preserveth  all 
them  that  love  him  ;  but  all  the  wicked  will  he  destroy  " 
(Ps.  cxlv.  20).  "  Fear  him  which  is  able  to  destroy 
both  soul  and  body  in  hell"  (Matt.  x.  28).  "Art  thou 
come  to  destroy  us"  before  our  time?  (Mark  i.  24.) 
"  The  wicked  is  reserved  to  the  day  of  destruction  " 
(Job  xxi.  30).  "Broad  is  the  way  that  leadeth  to  de- 
struction" (Matt.  vii.  13).  "Yessels  of  wrath  fitted 
to  destruction"  (Rom.  ix.  22). 

Mr.  Blain  quotes  and  refers  to  some  forty-two  such 
texts,  and  informs  us  that  such  terms  are  used  five 
hundred  times  in  the  Bible.  But  as  the  same  Greek 
word  (a7t6lXv(u  and  drto&ua)  is  also  translated  by  the 
words  "  perish,"  "  perdition,"  "  lose,"  and  "  lost," 
it  will  be  convenient  to  add  those  words  also  before 
replying. 

§2 


THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  93 

2.  To  perish,  perdition.  u  Kiss  the  Son,  lest  he  be 
angry,  and  ye  perish  from  the  way,  when  his  anger  is 
kindled  but  a  little  "  (Ps.  ii.  12).  "  As  many  as  have 
sinned  without  law  shall  also  perish  without  law " 
(Rom.  ii.  12).  "  None  of  them  is  lost  but  the  son  of 
perdition"  (John  xvii.  12).  "We  are  not  of  them 
who  draw  back  unto  perdition  "  (Heb.  x.  39).  Some 
thirty-five  other  passages  containing  these  terms  are 
cited  by  Mr.  Blain. 

3.  Lose,  lost.  "  He  that  findeth  his  life  shall  lose 
it "  (Matt.  x.  39).  "  But  if  our  gospel  be  hid,  it  is  hid 
to  them  that  are  lost"  (2  Cor.  iv.  3).  Some  six  other 
texts  more  or  less  resemble  these. 

The  words  here  quoted,  in  a  very  large  number  of 
passages  of  the  Bible,  refer  simply  to  physical  ruin  or 
death ;  as  where  Joshua  "  destroyed "  the  cities  of 
Canaan  and  their  inhabitants,  and  Rahab  "  perished 
not." 

But  there  is  another  use,  perfectly  clear  and  unde- 
niable, in  which  these  terms  do  not  refer  even  to  the 
loss  of  physical  life,  much  less  of  existence,  but  corre- 
spond almost  precisely  to  our  comprehensive  phrase 
ruin,  and  being  ruined  or  undone.  The  ruin  may  be 
of  the  most  various  description,  —  a  destruction  of  the 
well-being  in  whatsoever  form,  but,  when  applied  to 
the  prospects  of  the  sinner,  of  his  whole  highest  wel- 
fare here  and  hereafter.  The  Greek  word  translated 
lost,  perished,  destroyed,  has  this  for  one  of  its  most 
familiar  meanings.  AjtolcoXa  —  I  am  lost,  destroyed, 
or  perished  —  was  a  common  Attic  phrase,  mean- 
ing, according  to  Passow,  "  I  am  in  the  last  degree 
miserable  or  unfortunate."      So    in   the  Scriptures. 


94  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

The  prodigal  son  was  "  lost,"  though  neither  dead  nor 
annihilated,  but  in  a  most  forlorn  and  wretched  state. 
Christ  was  sent  unto  the  "  lost "  sheep  of  the  house 
of  "  Israel,"  to  "  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost," 
—  ruined,  though  still  existing  and  bitterly  active. 
And  if  we  wish  for  Christ's  own  exposition  of  what  the 
"  lost  "  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel  were,  read  in  Luke 
xv.  4-7  :  "  What  man  of  you  having  an  hundred  sheep, 
if  he  lose  one  of  them,  doth  not  leave  the  ninety  and 
nine  in  the  wilderness,  and  go  after  that  which  is  lost, 
until  he  find  it  ?  ...  I  say  unto  you,  that  likewise 
joy  shall  be  in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth, 
more  than  over  ninety  and  nine  just  persons  which  need 
no  repentance."  A  sinner  alienated  from  God  is  al- 
ready lost,  in  a  state  of  ruin  begun :  his  repentance  is 
the  recovery.  Precisely  so  said  God  to  Israel,  "  0 
Israel,  thou  hast  destroyed  thyself;  but  in  me  is  thy 
help"  (Hos.  xiii.  9).  Yet  Israel  was  not  extinct 
either  nationally  or  individually,  but  reduced  to  a 
most  calamitous  and  desperate  condition.  "  My  people 
are  destroyed  [cut  off]  for  lack  of  knowledge  "  (Hos. 
iv.  6).  But  the  people  were  existing  still.  Indeed, 
the  "  destroying  "  ranges  through  almost  every  form 
of  calamity  that  can  befall  a  nation  or  individual,  up 
to  the  eternal  penalty  of  sin.  "  Egypt  was  corrupted 
[destroyed,  margin]  by  reason  of  the  swarms  of  flies  " 
(Exod.  viii.  24).  Said  Pharaoh's  servants,  "Knowest 
thou  not  yet  that  Egypt  is  destroyed  ?"  (Exod.  x.  7.) 
Said  Job  of  -his  great  afflictions,  "  He  hath  destroyed 
me  on  every  side  "  (Job  xix.  10).  And  God  says  con- 
cerning him  to  Satan,  "  Thou  movedst  me  to  destroy 
him  [swallow  him  up]   without  cause  "    (Job  ii.  3). 


THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  95 

The  king  of  Babylon,  who  by  his  wars  had  exhausted 
the  resources  of  his  kingdom,  is  told,  "  Thou  hast  de- 
stroyed thy  land,  and  slain  thy  people  "  (Isa.  xiv.  20). 
We  are  told  of  Uzziah  (2  Chron.  xxvi.  16),  "  When 
he  was  strong,  his  heart  was  lifted  up  to  his  destruc- 
tion ;  "  upon  his  profane  attempt  to  burn  incense,  he 
was  smitten  with  leprosy,  and  obliged  to  abandon  his 
palace  and  his  government,  dwelling  by  himself  to  the 
day  of  his  death.  "  The  rich  man's  wealth  is  his  strong 
city ;  the  destruction  of  the  poor  is  their  poverty  "  (Prov. 
x.  15).  Clearly  the  meaning  is,  not  the  annihilation 
of  the  poor,  or  even  the  cause  of  their  death,  but  the 
source  of  exposure  to  many  forms  of  grievous  suffering, 
trial,  and  danger.  "  In  the  multitude  of  people  is  the 
king's  honor  ;  but  in  the  want  of  people  is  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  prince  "  (Prov.  xiv.  28),  —  a  cause  of  his 
weak  and  inglorious  condition,  liable  to  defeat  and 
overthrow.  "  Pride  goeth  before  destruction,  and  a 
haughty  spirit  before  a  fall"  (Prov.  xvi.  18).  "But 
when  his  disciples  saw  it,  they  said,  To  what  purpose 
is  this  waste  ?  "  —  a7tc6leia,  destruction,  i.e.  simply 
misapplication  or  perversion  (Matt.  xxvi.  8).  The 
ravaging  of  plain  and  valley  is  thus  predicted  (Jer. 
xlviii.  8)  :  "  The  valley  shall  perish  and  the  plain  shall 
be  destroyed."  The  utter  overthrow  of  hope  and 
courage  is  described  as  a  perishing  of  heart  (Jer.  iv. 
9)  :  "  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  at  that  day,  saith  the 
Lord,  that  the  heart  of  the  king  shall  perish,  and  the 
h-eart  of  the  princes ;  and  the  priests  shall  wonder. 

Without  citing  numerous  other  similar  instances 
which  abound,  especially  in  the  Old  Testament,  we 
remark  in  brief,  that  any  reader  of  ordinary  intelli- 


06  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

gence  who  shall  run  over,  with  a  concordance,  the  pas- 
sages of  the  Bible  containing  these  words,  will  see  that 
the  attempt  to  force  these  passages  to  the  aid  of  anni- 
hilation is  destitute  of  all  true  foundation.  He  will 
see  that  the  simple  and  generic  idea  of  the  words  is 
not  extinction,  but  ruin,  —  ruin  of  very  various  kinds, 
— very  often  indeed  designating  the  demolition  of  a  city 
with  its  buildings,  and  the  taking  of  physical  life  ;  but 
also  applied,  with  equal  freedom,  to  the  impoverish- 
ment, exhaustion,  or  devastation  of  a  land,  the  miser- 
able condition  and  dispersion  of  its  inhabitants,  the 
humiliation  of  a  living  monarch,  the  calamitous  state 
of  a  surviving  man,  the  downfall  of  a  haughty  sinner, 
the  entire  misapplication  of  a  precious  ointment.  He 
will  thus  see  that  the  word  does  not  carry  with  it,  by 
its  proper  force,  the  idea  of  extinction  ;  and  therefore, 
though  applied  to  designate  the  awful  ruin  which  shall 
overtake  the  sinner  in  another  world,  the  attempt  to 
sustain  by  its  use  the  doctrine  of  annihilation,  how- 
ever vaunting  and  persevering,  is  simply  preposterous. 

4.  Consume,  devour.  Some  six  or  eight  passages  in 
which  these  words  occur  are  materialized  into  extinc- 
tion :  "  They  that  forsake  the  Lord  shall  be  consumed  " 
(Isa.  ii.  28).  " They  shall  consume;  into  smoke  shall 
they  consume  away  "  (Ps.  xxxvii.  20).  "  A  fearful  look- 
ing-for of  judgment  and  fiery  indignation,  which  shall 
devour  the  adversaries  "  (Heb.  x.  27). 

Can  not  a  living  man  be,  in  Scripture  imagery,  de- 
voured or  consumed,  without  the  destruction  or  impair- 
ment of  his  conscious  being  ?  Read  a  few  passages 
and  see.  Says  Jacob,  in  describing  his  physical  en- 
durances, "  In  the  day,  the  drought  consumed  me  ;  and 


THE  SCRIPTURE   ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  97 

the  frost  by  night"  (Gen.  xxxi.  40).  The  Psalmist  de- 
scribes the  deep  grief  which  roused  his  faculties  to  a 
constant  wakefulness :  "  Mine  eye  is  consumed  because 
)f  grief"  (Ps.  vi.  7).  "Mine  eye  is  consumed  with 
grief,  .  .  .  my  bones  are  consumed  "  (Ps.  xxxi.  9, 
10).  Of  the  effect  of  God's  heavy  chastisements,  he 
says,  "  I  am  consumed  by  the  blow  of  thine  hand  " 
(Ps.  xxxix.  10).  He  says  of  the  wicked,  "They  are 
utterly  consumed  with  terrors  "  (Ps.  lxxiii.  19).  Of 
the  active  zeal  that  filled  all  his  being  with  life,  he  says, 
"  The  zeal  of  thy  house  hath  eaten  me  up  "  [consumed 
me]  (Ps.  lxix.  9).  In  like  manner  the  word  "devour," 
though  very  often  including  the  taking  of  human  life, 
has  a  wide  range  of  special  meaning  under  the  general 
idea  of  inflicting  grievous  evils.  We  read  of  strangers 
"  devouring  the  land  "  (Isa.  i.  7) ;  of"  shame  devour- 
ing the  labor  of  our  fathers  from  our  youth,  their  flocks 
and  their  herds,  their  sons  and  their  daughters"  (Jer. 
iii.  24);  of  " secretly  devouring  the  poor"  (Hab.  iii. 
14)  ;  of  Christians  warned  not  "  to  bite  and  devour  one 
another"  (Gal.  v.  15)  ;  of  men  who  "devour  widows' 
houses"  (Mark  xii.  40);  of  a  "  deceitful  tongue  "  that 
"  loveth  all  devouring  words  "  (Ps.  Iii.  4)  ;  and  other 
similar  utterances,  which  clearly  show  the  futility  of 
the  endeavor  to  materialize  these  words  into  meaning 
annihilation. 

5.  Tear  in  pieces,  break  in  pieces,  grind  to  powder. 
"  On  whomsoever  it  shall  fall,  it  will  grind  him  to  pow- 
der" (Matt.  xxi.  44).  "  Now,  consider  this,  ye  that 
forget  God,  lest  I  tear  you  in  pieces,  and  there  be  none 
to  deliver  "  (Ps.  1.  22).  "  The  adversaries  of  the  Lord 
shall  be  broken  to  pieces  "  (1  Sam.  ii.  10). 

7 


98 


LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 


One  would  suppose  that  such  texts  as  these  were 
sufficient  to  open  the  eyes  of  any  one  to  the  absurdity 
of  the  kind  of  interpretation  with  which  we  arc  con- 
tending. As  though  the  Almighty  would,  like  some 
hungry  beast  of  prey,  literally  "  tear  in  pieces,"  or, 
like  a  falling  stone,  crush  into  a  shapeless  mass  !  One 
is  almost  ashamed  to  refute  such  a  gross  conception 
by  citing  the  numerous  passages  which  show  it  to  be 
only  a  vivid  representation  of  deep  contrition,  oftener 
of  heavy  affliction,  and  especially  of  an  irresistible  and 
crushing  overthrow  and  vengeance.  "  A  broken  and 
contrite  heart "  (Ps.  li.  17)  is  literally  a  heart  "  broken 
in  pieces  and  shivered."  Job  asks  his  friends  (chap. 
xix.  2),  "  How  long  will  ye  vex  my  soul,  and  break  me 
in  pieces  with  words  ?  "  "  They  [the  wicked]  break 
in  pieces  thy  people,  0  Lord,  and  afflict  thine  heritage  " 
(Ps.  xciv.  5).  "  The  fourth  beast"  (Dan.  vii.  23)  was 
to  "  devour  the  whole  earth,  and  tread  it  down,  and 
break  it  in  pieces ; "  yet  the  fifth  kingdom  (Dan.  ii. 
44)  was  to  "  break  in  pieces  and  consume  all  these 
[previous]  kingdoms."  Said  the  Lord  to  Jeremiah, 
"Arise,  and  speak  unto  them  all  that  I  command  thee: 
be  not  dismayed  at  their  faces,  lest  I  confound  [break 
to  pieces,  margin]  thee  before  them."  He  addresses 
the  enemies  of  Judah  (Isa.  viii.  9),  "  Associate  your- 
selves, 0  ye  people,  and  ye  shall  be  broken  in  pieces  ; 
and  give  ear  all  ye  of  far  countries  :  gird  yourselves, 
and  ye  shall  be  broken  in  pieces ;  gird  yourselves,  and 
ye  shall  be  broken  in  pieces.  Take  counsel  together, 
and  it  shall  come  to  naught."  In  David's  song  com- 
memorative of  his  deliverance  "  out  of  the  hand  of  all 
his  enemies,  and  out  of  the  hand  of  Saul,"  he  says, 


THE   SCRIPTURE   ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  99 

"  Then  did  I  beat  them  as  small  as  the  dust  of  the 
earth,  I  did  stamp  them  as  the  mire  of  the  street,  and 
did  spread  them  abroad  "  (2  Sam.  xxii.  43)  :  in  other 
words,  they  were  completely  routed  and  overthrown 
by  him.  "  To  break  all  one's  bones  "  is  a  frequent  ex- 
pression for  heavy  affliction.  Job  speaks  thus  of  his 
grievous  sufferings  coupled  with  the  triumph  of  others 
over  him :  "  He  teareth  me  in  his  wrath  who  hateth 
me ;  he  gnasheth  upon  me  with  his  teeth  ;  mine  enemy 
sharpeneth  his  eyes  upon  me.  .  .  .  God  hath  deliv- 
ered me  to  the  ungodly,  and  turned  me  over  into  the 
hands  of  the  wicked.  I  was  at  ease,  but  lie  hath 
broken  me  asunder :  he  hath  also  taken  me  by  the 
neck,  and  shaken  me  to  pieces,  and  set  me  up  for  his 
mark;"  and  more  in  the  same  strain  (Job  xvi.  9-14). 
Yet  all  this  time  Job  was  in  a  state  of  the  highest 
mental  activity.  It  is  also  true  that  these  terms  are 
often  applied  to  defeats  and  overthrows  in  which  life  is 
taken ;  but,  even  then,  how  completely  the  meaning 
rises  above  the  mere  form  of  the  imagery  is  well  illus- 
trated in  the  song  of  Moses,  where,  after  distinctly  stat- 
ing in  repeated  forms  that  the  enemy  were  "  drowned 
in  the  Red  Sea,"  he  continues,  "Thy  right  hand,  0 
Lord,  hath  dashed  in  pieces  the  enemy  "  (Exod.  xv. 
6).  A  man  is  crushed  and  prostrated,  not  annihilated, 
whether  by  deep  contrition,  severe  affliction,  or  entire 
defeat. 

6.  Out  off.  Some  five  texts  containing  this  phrase 
are  cited  in  proof  of  annihilation.  "  For  evil-doers 
shall  be  cut  off;  but  those  that  wait  upon  the  Lord 
shall  inherit  the  earth  "  (Ps.  xxxvii.  9).  "  The  face  of 
the  Lord  is  against  them  that  do  evil,  to  cut  off  the  re- 


100  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

raembrance  of  them  from  the  earth  "  (Ps.  xxxiv.  16). 
"  For  such  as  be  blessed  of  him  shall  inherit  the  earth; 
and  they  that  be  cursed  of  him  shall  be  cut  off"  (Ps. 
xxx vii.  22).     See  also  verse  28. 

The  very  form  of  the  above  expressions  shows  the 
primary  reference  to  temporal  blessings  and  calamities, 
—  ''inherit  the  earth;"  "cut  off  from  the  earth." 
They  would  leave  the  question  of  future  existence  out 
of  sight.  It  is  therefore  hardly  needful  to  show  that 
they  do  not  and  can  not  signify  annihilation, by  quoting 
such  passages  as  these  concerning  the  Messiah  :  "  He 
was  cut  off  out  of  the  land  of  the  living  "  (Isa.  liii.  8). 
"And  after  threescore  and  two  weeks  shall  Messiah 
be  cut  off"  (Dan.  ix.  26)  ;  and  other  passages  almost 
equally  decisive.  But  if  it  should  be  said  that  these 
passages,  first  cited  under  the  form  of  temporal  good 
and  evil,  involve  also  future  retributions,  we  reply, 
If  so,  they  affirm  that  the  one  class  shall  possess,  and 
the  other  shall  be  cast  out  from,  all  the  promised  bless- 
ings of  the  heavenly  land.  In  Matthew,  we  read  a 
much  stronger  expression  than  simply  to  be  cut  off 
from  a  land  ;  the  Lord  of  the  evil  servant  will  "  cut 
him  asunder,"  i.e.  cut  him  in  two.  If  applied  to  phys- 
ical life,  the  expression,  literally  taken,  would  assert 
its  extinction,  of  course  ;  but  how  different  a  meaning 
is  here  conveyed  is  made  evident  at  once  by  the  next 
words,  "  and  shall  appoint  him  his  portion  with  the 
hypocrites :  there  shall  be  weeping-  and  gnashing'  of 
teeth1'  (Matt.  xxiv.  51).  The  phrase  "  cut  off"  com- 
monly refers  simply  to  physical  death,  but  sometimes 
involves  the  additional  idea  of  a  threatened  removal 
from  the  blessings  of  God's  people  in  this  life ;  while, 


THE   SCRIPTURE   ARGUMENT   EXAMINED.  101 

in  some  instances,  it  even  expresses  a  release  from  life's 

dons :  "  That  he  would  let  loose  his  hand,  and 

ut  me  off;  then  should  I  yet  have  comfort"  (Job  vi. 

The   Psalmist,  however  (Ps.  lxxxviii.   16),  ex« 

lime  concerning  his   pitiable  deprivation  of  earthly 

>ys,  "  Thy  terrors  have  cut  me  off." 

7.  Blot  out.     Two  texts  containing  these  words  are 

I  need  to  prove  annihilation  :  "Let  them  be  blotted 
nit  of  the  book  of  the  living,  and  not  be  written  with 
the  righteous7'  (Ps.  lxix.  28).  "  I  will  not  blot  out 
his  name  out  of  the  book  of  life  "  (Rev.  iii.  5).  In 
the  first  of  these  passages,  the  last  part  well  explains 
the  first  part.  Let  them  "  not  be  written  with  the  right- 
eous" as  sharers  of  their  blessings,  —  perhaps  here  in 
the  land  of  the  living.  u  To  blot  out  our  transgres- 
sions," an  often-recurring  phrase,  does  not  mean  to 
annihilate  them,  but  to  pardon  them,  i.e.  overlook  their 
claims  to  punishment.  To  "  blot  out  the  handwriting 
of  the  ordinances  which  was  against  us  "  (Col.  ii.  14) 
is  not  to  annihilate  those  ordinances,  but  to  set  aside 
their  demands  and  punitive  consequences. 

The  fundamental  image  is  that  of  record-books,  some 
containing  certain  records  of  sins  as  though  debts  to 
God,  others  containing  the  registry  of  ancient  Israel 
as  heirs  of  the  promised  land,  and  one  (in  the  New 
Testament)  containing  the  names  of  the  heirs  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  To  blot  out  the  transgressions  or 
the  handwriting  of  the  ordinances  was  figuratively  to 
erase  that  record  ;  that  is,  to  release  the  claim.  To  blot 
out  the  name  from  God's  book  (Exod.  xxxii.  82  and 
Ps.  lxix.  28)  was  to  take  away  all  title  to  the  promises, 
and  perhaps  to  send  to  a  premature  death  ;  not  to  blot 


102  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

out  a  name  from  the  Lamb's  book  of  life  is  to  leave 
the  man  a  recognized,  recorded  heir  of  all  Christ's 
promised  love,  entitled  to  the  privileges  of  enrolled 
citizens  of  his  kingdom.  He,  therefore,  whose  name  is 
blotted  out  from  that  book  of  life,  is  for  ever  banished 
from  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

8.  Not  be,  naught,  as  nothing.  A  few  texts  contain- 
ing these  words  are  also  forced  into  the  service  of  the 
system ;  with  what  success,  the  reader  shall  see.  Ps. 
xxxvii.  10,  "  For  yet  a  little  while,  and  the  wicked 
shall  not  be :  yea,  thou  shalt  diligently  consider  his 
place,  and  it  shall  not  be."  Mr.  Blain  triumphantly 
asks,  "  Where  is  hell,  then  ?  "  We  answer,  In  the  other 
world ;  for  this  passage  speaks  clearly  of  the  over- 
throw and  disappearance  of  the  wicked  in  this  world. 
So  the  phraseology,  "  Thou  shalt  consider  his  place  ; " 
so  the  next  words,  "  But  the  meek  shall  inherit  the 
earth  ;  "  so  similar  statements  in  the  same  psalm,  "  I 
have  seen  the  wicked  in  great  power.  .  .  .  Yet  he 
passed  away,  and  lo,  he  was  not :  yea,  I  sought  him,  but 
he  could  not  be  found  ;  "  that  is,  on  earth.  Even  Job 
describes  his  own  desired  disappearance  in  similar 
terms  (Job  vii.  21) :  "  For  now  shall  I  sleep  in  the  dust ; 
and  thou  shalt  seek  me  in  the  morning,  but  I  shall  not 
be  :  "  see  also  Job  xx.  8,  and  other  places.  The  same 
remark  applies  to  another  quoted  passage  (Job  viii.  22), 
"  The  dwelling-place  of  the  wicked  shall  come  to 
naught,"  or  not  be  ;  where  the  whole  argument  re- 
spects God's  dealings  with  men  in  this  world.  Another 
passage  :  "  They  shall  be  as  though  they  had  not  been  " 
(Obad.  16).  But  here  the  prophet  is  speaking  of  the 
entire  temporal  overthrow  and  extermination  of  the 


THE   SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  103 

Edornites :  the  land  shall  be  as  clear  of  them  as  though 
they  had  never  been.  The  same  thought  is  expressed 
two  verses  later :  "  There  shall  not  be  any  remaining  of 
the  house  of  Esau."  Job  can  hardly  be  accused  of  ex- 
pressing the  hope  of  annihilation,  when,  having  uttered 
the  wish  that  he  had  "  given  up  the  ghost  at  birth," 
he  adds.  "  I  should  have  been  as  though  I  had  not 
been  ;  I  should  have  been  carried  from  the  womb  to 
the  grave."  He  clearly  means  that  so  transient  an 
appearance,  followed  by  an  immediate  and  final  disap- 
pearance from  this  life,  would  have  been  almost  the 
same  as  not  having  lived  here  at  all :  he  would  have 
escaped  the  flood  of  earthly  afflictions  that  came  upon 
him. 

And  let  it  be  observed,  in  passing,  that  it  is  vain  to 
appeal  to  those  passages  which  spsak  of  deatli  as  the 
land  of  silence  and  darkness ;  for  these  passages  are 
quite  as  often  employed  in  case  of  the  righteous  as 
of  the  wicked,  and  they  manifestly  describe  the  case 
merely  according  to  the  appearance  of  things.  It  is 
the  view  from  this  side,  the  land  of  the  living.  To  us 
it  is  darkness  and  silence,  where  "  there  is  no  work 
nor  device." 

But  there  are  one  or  two  passages  like  these  :  "  They 
that  war  against  thee  shall  be  as  nothing,  and  as  a 
thing  of  naught ;  and  they  that  strive  with  thee  shall 
perish"  (Isa.  xli.  11,  12).  "Correct  me;  but  .  .  .  not 
in  thine  anger,  lest  thou  bring  me  to  nothing"  (Jer.  x. 
24).  But  how  perfectly  manifest  the  meaning,  even  to 
the  commonest  reader.  To  be  as  nothing  and  as  a  thing 
of  naught,  in  warring  against  God,  is  but  the  popular 
expression  for  utter  insignificance,  e.g.,  "  All  nations 


104  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

before  him  are  as  nothing ;  and  they  are  counted  to 
him  less  than  nothing,  and  vanity"  (Isa.  xl.  17).  Is 
that  annihilation  ?  Just  so  a  multitude  of  phrases 
which  it  is  superfluous  to  quote,  all  having  the  same 
general  meaning  of  insignificance  (or  sometimes  dis- 
comfiture) :  "  Mine  age  is  as  nothing  before  thee  " 
(Ps.  xxxix.  5).  "  Circumcision  is  nothing,  and  un- 
circumcision  is  nothing,  but  the  keeping  of  the  com- 
mandments of  God  "  (1  Cor.  vii.  19).  "  An  idol  is 
nothing  in  the  world  "  (viii.  4).  "  Though  I  be  noth- 
ing "  (2  Cor.  xii.  11).  "  If  a  man  thinketh  he  is 
something,  when  he  is  nothing  "  (Gal.  vi.  3).  So* the 
phrases,  "  Brought  their  counsel  to  naught,"  "  Bring  to 
naught "  (Neh.  iv.  15  ;  Ps.  xxxiii.  10 ;  Acts  v.  86 ;  1 
Cor.  i.  28),  mean  to  show  the  insignificance  of  a  thing 
in  its  complete  overthrow.  To  "  set  at  naught " 
(Prov.  i.  25  ;  Mark  ix.  12  ;  Rom.  xiv.  10)  is  to  treat 
as  insignificant  and  with  contempt. 

With  this  plain  idiom  thus  running  through  the 
Bible,  it  is  astonishing  that  any  man  can  even  impose 
upon  himself  so  as  to  find  annihilation  in  it.  Still 
more  astonishing  in  reference  to  the  other  passage, 
"  Lest  thou  bring  me  to  nothing  "  (which  is  cited  by 
Mr.  Blain)  ;  for  a  man  who  could  not  read  in  his  He- 
brew Lexicon  that  the  word  means  simply  and  strictly 
"  to  make  little  or  few,"  might  at  least  read  in  the  mar- 
gin the  translation  "  diminish  "  (Jer.  x.  24). 

9.  Some  prominence  is  given  to  four  texts,  contain- 
ing the  word  "  end  "  :  "  Whose  end  is  destruction  " 
(Phil.  iii.  19).  "  Whose  end  is  to  be  burned  "  (Heb. 
vi.  8)  (where  the  wicked  are  spoken  of  under  the  im- 
age of  thorns  and  briers).     "  Oh !  let  the  wickedness  of 


THE   SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  105 

the  wicked  come  to  an  end  "  (Ps.  vii.  9).  "  The  end 
of  the  wicked  shall  be  cut  off"  (Ps.  xxxvii.  88).  The 
texts  are  somewhat  oddly  brought  together.  Bug  look 
at  the  first  two :  the  argument  is,  that  "  end  "  here 
means  final  cessation  of  existence.  What,  then,  shall 
we  say  of  these  texts  ?  —  "  Let  me  die  the  death  of  the 
righteous,  and  let  nfty  last  end  be  like  his  "  (Num.  xxiii. 
10).  "  Mark  the  perfect  man,  and  behold  the  upright; 
for  the  end  of  that  man  is  peace  "  (Ps.  xxxvii.  37). 
Do  these  passages  declare  the  annihilation  of  the  right- 
eous at  death  ?  No.  The  word  "  end,"  which  has  a 
variety  of  meanings  in  Scripture,  when  used  in  such 
texts  as  this,  simply  denotes  in  a  general  way  the  close 
of  the  earthly  career  or  probationary  state :  "  Make 
me  to  know  mine  end,  and  the  measure  of  my  days, 
what  it  is  "  (Ps.  xxxix.  4)  ;  or  perhaps,  more  exactly, 
sometimes  the  close  of  this  state  as  the  beginning  of 
the  final  condition.  Indeed,  that  it  sometimes  denotes 
a  final  condition,  even  in  this  world,  is  undeniable  : 
"  Though  thy  beginning  was  small,  yet  thy  latter  end 
should  greatly  increase  "  (Job  viii.  7).  "  So  the  Lord 
blessed  the  latter  end  of  Job  more  than  the  beginning  " 
(Job  xlii.  12).  "  And  the  end  everlasting  life  n  (Rom. 
vi.  22).  All  reliance  upon  this  phraseology  is  suicidal. 
The  two  remaining  passages  are  somewhat  different : 
"  Let  the  wickedness  of  the  wicked  come  to  an  end." 
Waiving  all  other  remarks,  the  reader  who  shall  pe- 
ruse the  whole  psalm  will  see  that  the  one  subject  in 
view  is  the  wickedness  and  its  ebullitions  in  this  world, 
from  which  the  Psalmist  prays  for  deliverance.  The 
other  passage  is  translated  by  Rosenmiiller,  De  Wette, 


106  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

Maurer,  and  apparently  by  Olshausen,  "  The  posterity 
of  the  wicked  shall  be  cut  off."  * 

10.  Burn ,  and  burn  up.  The  materialist  interpre- 
tation lays  considerable  stress  on  nine  or  ten  texts  in 
which  these  terms  are  used  concerning  the  enemies  of 
God,  and  argues  as  though  the  vengeance  of  God 
were  strictly  similar  to  a  wood  fire,  and  the  human 
soul  to  a  combustible  material,  and  the  operation  of 
the  one  upon  the  other  was  in  either  case  much  the 
same.  Mr.  Blain  actually  italicizes  the  word  "  ashes  " 
in  quoting  Mai.  iv.  3  :  The  wicked  "  shall  be  ashes  un- 
der the  soles  of  your  feet  in  the  day  that  I  shall  do 
this."  The  passages  cited  (in  addition  to  this)  are  the 
following :  "  A  fire  goeth  before  him,  and  burnetii  up 
his  enemies  round  about  "  (Ps.  xcvii.  3.)  "  And  the 
fire  shall  devour  them  "  (Ps.  xxi.  9).  "  Whose  end  is 
to  be  burned"  (Heb.  vi.  8).  "Cast  them  into  the  fire, 
and  they  are  burned  "  (John  xv.  6).  "  He  will  burn  up 
the  chaff  with  unquenchable  fire  "  (Matt.  hi.  12).  "  As 
therefore  the  tares  are  gathered  and  burned  in  the  fire, 
so  shall  it  be  in  the  end  of  this  world"  (Matt.  xiii.  40). 
"  For  behold  the  day  cometh  that  shall  burn  as  an 
oven;  and  all  the  proud,  yea,  and  all  that  do  wickedly, 
shall  be  stubble :  and  the  day  that  cometh  shall  burn 
them  up,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  that  it  shall  leave 
them  neither  root  nor  branch"  (Mai.  iv.  1).  "Our 
God  is  a  consuming  fire  "  (Heb.  xii.  29).  M  Fire  came 
down  out  of  heaven,  and  devoured  them  "  (Rev.  xx. 
9).     u  A  fearful  looking-for  of  judgment  and  fiery  in- 

*  Geseaius  translates  the  word  "  end  "  here  [^^D^]  eventus  felix, 
"happy  close;  "  and  Delitzsch,  "the  future  (i.e.,  the  earthly  future)  which 
he  had  imagined."    The  word  itself  admits  either  meaning. 


THE   SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  107 

dignation,  which  shall  devour  the  adversaries  M  (Heb. 
x.  27). 

It  requires  but  a  moderate  familiarity  with  this  kind 
of  imagery  in  the  Bible,  to  see  the  entire  fallaciousness 
of  the  interpretation.  This  particular  mode  of  ex- 
pression runs  through  the  Bible,  and  especially  the 
Old  Testament,  so  abundantly,  as  to  render  the  mean- 
ing unmistakable.  God's  anger  is  a  fire  or  a  flame  ; 
afflictions  and  sufferings  are  its  heat  and  burning  ef- 
fect, sometimes  a  burning  in  general ;  and  when  that 
vengeance  is  perfectly  irresistible,  appalling,  and  over- 
whelming, it  is  represented,  as  could  be  done  in  no 
other  way  so  graphically  and  so  consistently,  as  a  de- 
vouring and  consuming  fire,  driving  over  the  helpless 
stubble,  or  sweeping  through  the  dry  thorns  and  briers, 
or  reducing  the  tares  and  chaff  to  ashes.  This  is  the 
simple  fact  of  the  case,  capable  of  easy  proof. 

Not  alone  God's  anger,  but  anger  generally,  is  de- 
scribed as  heat.  The  phrase,  "  he  was  angry,"  is,  in 
Hebrew,  "  it  was  hot  to  him ;  "  and  the  primary  allu- 
sion probably  to  the  flush  upon  the  cheek.  Heat  and 
anger,  associated  in  all  languages,  are  still  more  closely 
interwoven  in  the  Hebrew.  Severe  anger  is  *yhn,  burn- 
ing. Ahasuerus  "  was  very  wroth,  and  his  anger 
burned  within  him  "  (Est.  i.  12). 

The  expression  of  that  anger  is  a  sending  forth  of 
flames  or  of  coals,  especially  when  infliction  of  suf- 
fering is  implied.  Even  Leviathan  is  thus  described 
(Job  xli.  19-22):  "Out  of  his  mouth  go  burning  lamps, 
and  sparks  of  fire  leap  out.  Out  of  his  nostrils  goeth 
smoke,  as  out  of  a  seething  pot  or  caldron.  His  breath 
kindleth  coals,  and  a  flame  goeth  out  of  his  mouth." 


108  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

Judah  said  to  Joseph,  "  Let  not  thine  anger  burn 
against  thy  servant "  (Gen.  xliv.  18).  Of  God  it  is 
said  (Jer.  vii.  20),  "  Behold  mine  anger  and  my  fury 
.  .  .  shall  burn,  and  shall  not  be  quenched."  "  Shall 
thy  jealousy  burn  like  fire  ?  "  (Ps.  lxxix.  5  ;  lxxxix.  46.) 
"  So  a  fire  was  kindled  against  Jacob,  and  anger  also 
came  up  against  Israel "  (Ps.  lxxviii.  21).  Numerous 
other  passages  use  these  phrases  and  the  like  to  describe 
in  general  the  exhibition  of  anger,  in  whatever  mode, 
but  so  as  to  involve  the  infliction  of  suffering. 

In  other  cases,  the  suffering  inflicted  is  clearly  the 
prominent  thought  represented,  as  the  effect  of  the 
fire.  The  calumniator  is  one  in  whose  lips  u  there  is  as 
a  burning  fire  "  (Prov.  xvi.  27).  See  also  Ps.  cxx.  4, 
Prov.  vi.  27,  for  similar  expressions  with  similar  mean- 
ing. Jeremiah  describes  his  deep  sorrow  "  with  which 
the  Lord  hath  afflicted  me  in  the  day  of  his  fierce  anger," 
by  adding  in  the  next  words,  "  From  above  hath  he 
sent  fire  into  my  bones,  and  it  prevaileth  against  them  " 
(Lam.  i.  13).  The  Psalmist,  in  his  "  prayer  of  the 
afflicted  "  (Ps.  cii.  3),  complains  that  his  "  bones  are 
burned  as  a  hearth."  And  Job,  in  his  deep  troubles, 
utters  the  same  cry :  "  My  skin  is  black  upon  me,  and 
my  bones  are  burned  with  heat"  (Job  xxx.  30).  The 
deliverance  of  the  Israelites  from  the  terrible  oppres- 
sions of  Egypt  was  God's  bringing  them  "  forth  out  of 
Egypt,  from  the  midst  of  the  furnace  of  iron  "  (1  Kings 
viii.  51  ;  Deut.  iv.  20 ;  Jer.  xi.  4).  God's  threats  of 
the  terrible  evils  he  would  bring  upon  the  house  of  Is- 
rael for  its  sins,  describe  him  as  about  to  gather  them 
in  Jerusalem  like  "  silver  and  brass  and  iron  and  lead 
and  tin  into  the  midst  of  the  furnace,  to  blow  the  firo 


THE   SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  109 

upon  it,  to  melt  it ;  so  will  I  gather  you  in  mine  an* 
ger  and  in  my  fury,  and  I  will  leave  you  there  and 
melt  you  ;  yea,  I  will  gather  you,  and  blow  upon  you  in 
the  fire  of  my  wrath,  and  ye  shall  be  melted  in  the 
midst  thereof.  As  silver  is  melted  in  the  midst 
of  the  furnace,  so  shall  ye  be  melted  in  the  midst 
thereof;  and  ye  shall  know  that  I  the  Lord  have 
poured  out  my  fury  upon  you  "  (Ezek.  xxii.  19-22). 
Here  is  terrific  trial,  but  of  course  no  annihilation : 
and  the  silver  is  melted  as  well  as  the  tin ;  the  fire 
only  separates  the  two.  So  we  read  of  a  "  fiery  trial " 
(1  Pet.  iv.  12),  of  being  "  tried  with  fire  "  (1  Pet.  i.  7), 
and  of  being  "saved  so  as  by  fire  "  (1  Cor.  iii.  15). 
David  describes  his  afflictions  by  saying,  "  We  went 
through  fire  and  through  water  "  (Ps.  lxvi.  12).  "The 
rust  of  them  [of  your  gold  and  silver]  shall  eat  your 
flesh  as  it  were  fire  "  (Jas.  v.  3).  The  Saviour  de- 
scribes the  bitter  troubles  and  persecutions  which  were 
to  rage  around  the  track  of  the  gospel,  "  I  am  come 
to  send  fire  on  the  earth ;  and  what  will  I,  if  it  be  al- 
ready kindled  ?  "  (Luke  xii.  49.) 

But  oftener  yet  the  thought  conveyed,  while  still 
involving  the  notion  of  suffering,  at  the  same  time  sets 
forth  prominently  the  resistless,  overwhelming  discom- 
fiture which  God's  anger  will  inflict  upon  the  wicked. 
Nothing  can  so  well  describe  the  appalling  power  of 
that  punitive  anger,  and  the  utterly  helpless  condition 
of  its  objects  (together  with  the  keenness  of  their  tor- 
tures), as  the  surging,  devouring  conflagration.  It  is 
sometimes  used  even  of  severe  human  vengeance ;  thus 
(Judg.  ix.  20)  :  "  Let  fire  come  out  from  Abimelech, 
and  devour  the  men  of  Shechem,  and  the  house  of 


110  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

Millo."  Num.  xxi.  28  :  "  For  there  is  a  fire  gone  out 
of  Heshbon,  a  flame  from  the  city  of  Sihon  :  it  hath 
consumed  Ar  of  Moab,  and  the  lords  of  the  high  places 
of  Anion."  Here  is  only  a  threat  of  thorough  over- 
throw. But  more  particularly  God's  irresistible  ven- 
geance, in  whatever  form,  is  represented  under  this 
figure.  Thus  (Nah.  i.  6)  :  "  His  fury  is  poured  out 
like  fire,  and  the  rocks  are  thrown  down  by  him ; " 
which  is  sufficiently  explained  by  the  preliminary  ques- 
tions of  the  same  verse :  "  Who  can  stand  before  his 
indignation,  and  abide  in  the  fierceness  of  his  anger?" 
Jeremiah  (in  Lam.  iv.  11)  describes  in  general  the  over- 
throw of  the  land  :  "  The  Lord  hath  accomplished  his 
fury  ;  he  hath  poured  out  his  fierce  anger,  and  hath 
kindled  a  fire  in  Zion,  and  it  hath  devoured  the  foun- 
dations thereof."  The  vengeance  which  God  will  exe- 
cute by  the  Assyrian  is  spoken  of  (Isa.  xxxi.  9)  as  the 
work  of  "  the  Lord,  whose  fire  is  in  Zion,  and  his  fur- 
nace in  Jerusalem."  Of  the  devastation  already  in- 
flicted by  God  upon  his  people,  it  is  said  that  the  vine- 
yard "  is  burnt  witli  fire  ;  it  is  cut  down  "  (Ps.  lxxx. 
16).  And  the  whole  comprehensive  and  appalling 
chastisement  in  store  for  the  sinning  house  of  Israel, 
though  often  drawn  out  in  detail,  is  constantly  summed 
up  in  the  sweeping  threat  of  a  fire  that  shall  come  upon 
it ;  sometimes  a  fire  that  can  not  be  quenched :  "  0 
house  of  David,  thus  saith  the  Lord:  Execute  judgment 
in  the  morning,  and  deliver  him  that  is  spoiled  out  of 
the  hand  of  the  oppressor,  lest  my  fury  go  out  like  fire, 
and  burn  that  none  can  quench  it,  because  of  the  evil 
of  your  doings  "  (Jer.  xxi.  12  ;  see  also  iv.  4  ;  xvii. 
27  ;  Isa.  xxx.  27  ;  Ezek.  xxi.  32 ;  xxxix.  6,  etc.).    I£ 


THE   SCRIPTURAL  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  Ill 

any  additional  proof  were  needed  that  this  phraseology 
simply  describes  any  kind  of  overwhelming  and  irre- 
sistible vengeance,  it  is  found  in  the  reiteration  con- 
tained in  the  first  and  second  chapters  of  Amos,  where, 
in  the  same  words,  with  only  a  change  of  names,  the 
punishments  of  Damascus,  Gaza,  Tyre,  Edom,  Amnion, 
Moab,  and  Judah,  are  all  alike  described  as  "  sending 
a  fire  upon  "  those  cities  and  nations,  which  shall  "  de- 
vour the  palaces  thereof"  (Amos  i.). 

The  same  methods  of  speech  —  probably  from  the 
necessity  of  the  case,  and  certainly  in  conformity  with 
the  usage  which  represents  the  joys  of  heaven  under 
the  forms  of  this  world  —  are  employed  to  describe  the 
punishments  of  the  wicked  hereafter.  Indeed,  that 
flame  is  sometimes  apparently  represented  as  a  contin- 
uous fire  following  them  into  the  other  world :  "  For 
a  fire  is  kindled  in  mine  anger,  and  shall  burn  unto 
the  lowest  hell"  (Deut.  xxxii.  22).  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrha  "  are  set  forth  for  an  example,  suffering  the 
vengeance  of  eternal  fire,"  —  the  temporal  overthrow 
passing  into  an  endless  woe  of  which  it  was  the  fearful 
symbol.  In  the  New  Testament  it  is  the  everlasting 
fire,  the  unquenchable  fire,  the  fire  that  never  shall  be 
quenched,  the  lake  which  burnetii  with  fire  and  brim- 
stone. In  the  last  of  these  phrases,  the  additional 
features  would  seem  to  have  been  drawn  from  some 
such  scene  as  that  of  Sodom,  where  the  lurid  light,  the 
suffocating  smoke,  and  the  torturing  heat,  all  combine 
in  one  image  of  horror. 

To  the  assertion  that  such  phraseology  as  "  burn  " 
and  "  burn  up,"  together  with  the  other  references  to 
that   punishment  as  a  fire,  denotes  annihilation,  we 


112  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

offer,  then,  the  following  decisive  replies  (waiving  the 
fact,  that,  even  in  earthly  fire,  the  elements  remain  un- 
diminished, though  changed  in  form)  :  1.  The  strange 
inconclusiveness  of  thus  arguing  from  a  figure,  that 
because  heat  decomposes  fuel,  therefore  God's  anger 
must  decompose  a  spirit.  2.  The  positive  fact  that 
this  figure  itself  is  abundantly  used  to  denote  extreme 
suffering  and  resistless  vengeance,  when  the  subject 
continues  to  exist,  and  even  to  describe  himself  as  burnt 
and  consumed.  3.  The  epithets  often  accompanying, 
which  describe,  not  an  extinction,  but  a  long-continued 
infliction.  It  is  "  eternal/'  "  unquenchable,"  "  that 
never  shall  be  quenched."  To  evade  this  consideration 
requires  the  double  artifice  of  maintaining  that  "  eter- 
nal," not  once,  but  in  all  cases  where  it  applies  to  the 
punishment  of  the  wicked,  shall  not  only  be  shorn  of 
the  meaning  of  endless  duration,  but  of  all  duration 
whatever,  and  signify  only  "  final "  or  "  irreversible  ;  " 
and  that  the  incessant  continuance  of  the  flame,  which 
in  one  solemn  passage  (Mark  ix.  43-48)  is  twice  re- 
peated, should  be  a  superfluous  circumstance.*  Yet 
the  Old  Testament  passages  from  which  this  latter  rep- 
resentation is  drawn  most  clearly  denote  protracted 
suffering. —  See  Jer.  xvii.  4  ;  xxi.  12  ;  xvii.  27  ;  iv.  4, 
and  the  contexts.  4.  The  additional  decisive  fact,  that 
the  fire  of  punishment  is  definitely  described  in  the 
New  Testament  as  the  agent  of  conscious,  continued 

*  The  meaning  of  these  phrases  will  be  more  fully  considered  hereafter. 
We  say,  twice  repeated,  but,  if  we  follow  the  received  text,  it  is  Jire  times. 
Teschendorf  omits  three  of  them,  in  verses  44,  45,  46.  He  is  supported  by 
manuscripts  B,  C,  L,  A,  &,  together  with  the  Coptic  and  Armenian  versions; 
opposed  by  manuscripts  A,  D,  E,  F,  G,  II,  K,  M,  S,U,  V,  X,  T,  and  the  Latin 
versions,  Vulgate,  Gothic,  Ethiopic,  and  both  Syriac.    The  ease  is  doubtful. 


THE   SCRIPTURAL   ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  113 

anguish,  and  not  of  extinction.  The  rich. man,  who 
"in  hell  lifted  up  his  eyes, being  in  torments,"  said,  "1 
am  tormented  in  this  flame."  "  The  devil  that  de- 
ceived them  was  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire  and  brim- 
stone, whore  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet  are  ;  and 
shall  be  tormented  day  and  night  for  ever  "  (Rev.  xx. 
10).  The  worshiper  of  the  beast  and  his  image  "  shall 
be  tormented  ivith  fire  and  brimstone  in  the  presence 
of  the  holy  angels  and  in  the  presence  of  the  Lamb ; 
and  the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  up  for  ever 
and  ever ;  and  they  have  no  rest,  day  nor  night  "  (Rev. 
xiv.  10,  11).  "The  furnace  of  fire"  into  which  the 
wicked  shall  be  cast  at  the  end  of  the  world  is  described 
as  a  place  where  "  there  shall  be  wailing,  and  gnashing 
of  teeth"  (Matt.  xiii.  42,  50).  These  passages,  so  full 
and  explicit,  are  conclusive  that  fire  symbolizes  an 
irresistible  overthrow  of  perpetual  suffering,  and  not  of 
extinction. 

11.  "  Put  under  his  feet."  With  the  same  eager- 
ness, even  this  phrase  is  claimed  as  teaching  annihila- 
tion. Mr.  Blain  quotes  1  Cor.  xv.  25,  26 :  "  For  he 
must  reign  till  he  hath  put  all  enemies  under  his 
feet.  The  last  enemy  that  shall  be  destroyed  is 
death."  With  characteristic  sensuousness  of  interpre- 
tation, he  adds,  "  To  have  eternal  groaning  and  cursing 
in  a  '  footstool '  would  not  seem  to  be  pleasant.  This 
is  a  Bible  expression  for  utter  destruction  of  enemies : 
see  Mai.  iv.  3,  and  Rom.  xvi.  20."  Archbishop  Whate- 
ly  seems  to  admit  this  position.*  On  this  we  need 
only  remark,  that  the  Apostle  Paul  elsewhere  uses  this 
very  expression  to  describe  the  complete  subjection  of 

*  Blain's  Death,  not  Life,  p.  21 ;  Whately's  Future  State,  p.  177. 
8 


114  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

the  whole  .universe  to  Christ,  —  of  all  created  things, 
rational  and  irrational ;  of  all  intelligences,  rebellious 
or  obedient :  see  Heb.  ii.  7,  8  ;  Epli.  i.  20-23  ;  with 
which  compare  Phil.  ii.  9-11.  According  to  this  mode 
of  dealing  with  Scripture,  therefore,  the  subjection  of 
Christ's  empire  to  his  authority  would  consist  in  its 
annihilation  ! 

We  have  examined  the  chief  passages  and  phrases 
on  which  the  advocates  of  annihilation  rest  their  posi- 
tion. In  every  one  of  them,  the  attempt  utterly  fails. 
Its  only  speciousness  consists  in  viewing  the  imagery 
detached  and  materialized.  To  the  common  reader, 
the  Scripture  explains  itself  as  he  reads  these  phrases 
in  their  place.  The  whole  tenor  of  the  Bible,  trans- 
fused as  it  is  with  such  vivid  metaphors,  guides  him 
aright ;  indeed,  the  case  is  so  clear,  that  he  raises  no 
question  :  but  when  a  few  of  the  most  intense  expres- 
sions are  isolated  from  their  surroundings  and  ingeni- 
ously combined,  and  the  glowing  metaphors  converted 
into  literal  propositions,  he  is  surprised,  perhaps,  at  the 
form  and  strength  of  the  language.  It  becomes  neces- 
sary to  clear  up  the  matter  by  showing  him  the  same 
expression  in  unmistakable  connections :  therefore  the 
almost  superfluous  extent  at  which  we  have  examined 
these  phrases. 

Perhaps,  in  concluding  this  portion  of  the  subject,  no 
more  satisfactory  exhibition  can  be  made  than  the 
forms  under  which  a  single  living  speaker  in  the  Bible 
describes  his  own  present  deep  sufferings.  The  reader 
will  observe  that  a  large  portion  of  all  the  phrases  on 
which   annihilationists   rely,  and  others  besides,   are 


THE  SCRIPTURAL  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  115 

found  in  Job's  description  of  his  state.  Let  him  weigh 
these  several  modes  of  expression :  "  The  arrows  of 
the  Almighty  are  within  me,  the  poison  whereof  drink- 
eth  up  my  spirit ;  the  terrors  of  God  do  set  themselves 
in  array  against  me  "  (vi.  4).  "Thine  eyes  are  upon 
me,  and  I  am  not"  (vii.  8).  "For  he  breaketli  me 
with  a  tempest,  and  multiplieth  my  wounds  without 
cause.  He  will  not  suffer  me  to  take  my  breath,  but 
filleth  me  with  bitterness  "  (ix.  17,  18).  "  Wherefore 
hidest  thou  thy  face,  and  boldest  me  for  thine  enemy  ? 
Wilt  thou  break  a  leaf  driven  to  and  fro  ?  and  wilt  thou 
pursue  the  dry  stubble  ?  "  "  And  [I  am]  he  [that]  as 
a  rotten  thing  consumeth,  as  a  garment  that  is  moth- 
eaten  "  (xiii.  24,  25,  28).  "  He  teareth  me  in  his  wrath 
who  hateth  me  ;  he  gnasheth  upon  me  with  his  teeth : 
mine  enemy  sharpeneth  his  eyes  upon  me.  They  have 
gaped  upon  me  with  their  mouth ;  they  have  smitten 
me  upon  the  cheek  reproachfully ;  they  have  gathered 
themselves  together  against  me."  "  I  was  at  ease,  but 
he  hath  broken  me  asunder :  he  hath  also  taken  me  by 
my  neck,  and  shaken  me  to  pieces,  and  set  me  up  for  his 
mark.  His  archers  compass  me  round  about ;  he  cleav- 
elh  my  reins  asunder,  and  doth  not  spare  ;  lie  pour  eth 
out  my  gall  upon  the  ground.  He  breaketh  me  with 
breach  upon  breach ;  he  runneth  upon  me  like  a  giant. 
I  have  sewed  sackcloth  upon  my  skin,  and  defiled  my 
horn  in  the  dust.  My  face  is  foul  with  weeping,  and 
on  my  eyelids  is  the  shadow  of  death  "  (xvi.  9,  10, 
12-16).  "  My  breath  is  corrupt ;  my  days  are  extinct; 
the  graves  are  ready  for  me"  (xvii.  1).  "He  hath 
fenced  up  my  way  that  I  can  not  pass,  and  lie  hath  set 
darkness  in  my  paths.     He  hath  destroyed  me  on  every 


116  LIFE   AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

side,  and  /  am  gone ;  and  mine  hope  hath  he  removed 
like  a  tree.  He  hath  also  kindled  his  wrath  against 
me"  (xix.  8, 10, 11).  "They  came  upon  me  as  a  wide 
breaking-in  of  waters:  in  the  desolation,  they  rolled 
themselves  upon  me.  Terrors  are  turned  upon  me : 
they  pursue  my  soul  as  the  wind."  "  He  hath  cast  me 
into  the  mire,  and  I  am  become  like  dust  and  ashes. 
Thou  liftest  me  up  to  the  wind ;  thou  causest  me  to 
ride  upon  it,  and  dissolvest  my  substance.''''  "I  went 
mourning  without  the  sun  ;  I  stood  up,  and  I  cried  in 
the  congregation.  I  am  a  brother  to  dragons,  and  a 
companion  to  owls.  My  skin  is  black  upon  me,  and 
my  bones  are  burned  with  heat"  (xxx.  14,  15,  19,  22, 
28-30). 

A  glance  at  the  various  modes  of  expressing  the 
overpowering  afflictions  of  a  living  being  is  sufficient 
to  show  the  futility  of  using  them,  or  the  like  of  them, 
as  arguments  for  annihilation.  By  the  whole  showing 
of  Storrs,  Blain,  Hudson,  and  their  coadjutors,  Job 
was  an  annihilated  man  while  uttering  these  words. 
The  language  describes  indeed  a  reality,  a  terrible  re- 
ality ;  but  that  reality  is  not  annihilation.  It  is  the 
overwhelming  anguish  of  a  living,  conscious  being. 
Let  the  man  who  rests  his  hopes  of  annihilation  on 
such  phraseology  pause,  and  ponder  well  its  meaning 
in  the  Word  of  God. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE  SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED :   THE  RESURRECTION 

AND   THE   SECOND  DEATH. 

SOME  of  these  writers  attempt  to  lay  stress  upon 
certain  passages  which  speak  of  the  resurrection 
as  an  object  of  promise  and  desire  to  the  believer. 
Mr.  Dobney  quotes  specially  three  passages,  —  John  vi. 
39,  40,  in  which  the  Saviour  says  of  the  believer,  that 
he  shall  "have  everlasting  life,  and  I  will  raise  him  up 
at  the  last  clay;"  Luke  xx.  35,  "But  they  which  shall 
be  accounted  worthy  to  obtain  that  world,  and  the  res- 
urrection from  the  dead,"  etc.;  Phil.  iii.  11,  "If  by 
any  means  I  might  attain  unto  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead."  With  these  he  combines  1  Cor.  xv.  12-32, 
and,  after  some  twenty  pages  of  discussion,  sums  up 
as  follows  :  — 

1.  "  There  is  a  resurrection  of  the  dead,  generally. 
2.  The  final  judgment  of  each  individual,  with  its 
award  to  heaven  or  hell,  is  consequent  upon  the  resur- 
rection. 3.  The  resurrection  state  was  that  which  the 
apostles  longed  for,  earnestly  desiring  to  find  them- 
selves in  their  house  from  heaven,  or  heavenly  house  ; 
that  is,  their  second  or  spirit  body.  4.  Future  con- 
scious existence  is  connected  with,  and  dependent  upon, 
or  identical  with,  resurrection ;  so  that,  no  resurrection, 
no  future  life.     5.  The  resurrection  grows  out  of  the 

117 


118  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

mediatorship  of  Christ ;  so  that,  no  Mediator,  no  res- 
urrection, and  therefore  no  future  state.''  * 

Some  of  these  points  we  do  not  care  to  discuss  now, 
though  we  dissent  from  them.  We  would  remark,  in 
passing,  that  the  denial  of  consciousness  immediately 
after  death  can  not  by  any  fair  means  be  reconciled 
with  Luke  xxiii.  43,  2  Cor.  v.  6-8,  Phil.  i.  21-24, 
the  appearance  of  Moses  and  Elijah,  and  Christ's  ar- 
gument in  Matt.  xxii.  31,  32.  And  how  far  the  fifth 
proposition  is  consistent  with  the  writer's  own  theory 
will  incidentally  soon  appear. 

The  main  point  of  the  writer  appears  in  his  third 
proposition,  —  that  "the  resurrection  state  was  that 
which  the  apostles  longed  for  ; "  from  which  he  would 
argue  that  none  but  the  righteous  attain  the  "  resur- 
rection state,"  or,  as  he  would  interpret  his  own  mean- 
ing, continue  in  existence  after  the  resurrection. 

The  fallacy  is  here  covered  over  in  the  phrase  "  res- 
urrection state"  a  phrase  of  the  writer's  own  coining. 
If  this  phrase  means  the  state  of  having  been  raised 
from  the  dead,  the  Bible  is  perfectly  explicit  that  all 
men  will  share  that  state.  "  There  shall  be  a  resur- 
rection of  the  dead,  both  of  the  just  and  unjust  "  (Acts 
xxiv.  15).  "  The  hour  is  coming,  in  the  which  all  that 
are  in  the  graves  shall  hear  his  voice,  and  shall  come 
forth :  they  that  have  done  good,  unto  the  resurrection 
of  life;  and  they  that  have  done  evil,  unto  the  resurrec- 
tion of  damnation"  (John  v.  28,  29).  Nor  does  this 
writer  venture  to  deny  it.  It  is,  then,  not  simply  a  liv- 
ing again  from  the  dead  which  the  apostle  desired  and 
Christ  promised  his  disciples  ;  that  must  come.     What 

*  Future  Punishment,  p.  1G4. 


THE   SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  119 

was  it  ?  Clearly,  as  the  context  in  Philippians  shows, 
the  blessed  resurrection,  the  resurrection  in  Christ  to 
those  joys  and  glories  which  he  elsewhere  describes  as 
"  the  crown  of  glory,"  "  the  prize  of  his  high  calling," 
and  which  Peter  calls  the  "  incorruptible  inheritance," 
the  resurrection  to  "  eternal  life."  Here  is  nothing 
about  the  resurrection  state.  It  is  "  the  resurrection  " 
par  eminence,  no  doubt ;  being  "  the  only  resurrection 
which  is  the  completion  of  the  man  in  his  glorified 
state."  The  apostle  speaks,  therefore,  not  of  the  fact 
of  a  resurrection,  but  the  mode  and  circumstances  of 
the  blessed  resurrection ;  just  as  "  life  "  means  true 
life,  —  life  worthy  of  the  name.  Eadie  well  remarks  on 
Paul's  expression,  "  The  reference  is  to  the  resurrection 
of  the  just  —  Luke  xx.  35  ;  that  resurrection  described 
also  in  1  Thess.  iv.  16,  etc.  The  resurrection  of  the 
dead  was  an  article  of  his  former  creed,  which  the 
apostle  did  not  need  to  change  in  his  conversion  ;  but 
it  was  the  resurrection  to  eternal  life  secured  by  Christ 
that  the  apostle  aspired  to  reach."  This  is  the  simple 
explanation  necessitated  by  the  Scriptures  ;  for  it  is 
a  clear  scriptural  doctrine,  that  the  wicked  shall  be 
raised.  These  passages  have  no  bearing  on  the  ques- 
tion of  their  continued  existence  afterward. 

But  the  fact  of  their  resurrection  at  all  is  a  fact  of 
ominous  significance,  and  of  the  gravest  difficulty  to 
the  advocates  of  annihilation.  They  feel  it.  Says 
Mr.  Hudson,  "  It  is  hard  that  they  are  raised  up  by  a 
miracle  that  ends  in  their  destruction,  or  that  accom- 
plishes nothing  but  a  judgment,  which  in  this  view 
must  appear  simply  vindictive.  If  they  have  no  im- 
mortality, why  are  their  slumbers  disturbed  ?  "    Surely, 


120        '  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

why  ?  The  Scripture  gives  clear  information  why  the 
wicked  are  raised ;  it  is  to  "  the  resurrection  of  con- 
demnation ;  "  "  that  every  one  may  receive  the  things 
done  in  his  body  according  to  that  he  hath  done, 
whether  it  be  good  or  bad  ;  "  that  God  may  render  to 
them  that  obey  not  the  truth  "  indignation  and  wrath, 
tribulation  and  anguish,  upon  every  soul  of  man  that 
doeth  evil ;  "  that  they  may  "  go  away  into  everlasting 
punishment."  This  is  simple  and  consistent.  But 
the  deniers  of  immortality  must  find  here  an  abortive 
and  meaningless  miracle.  And  here  they  scatter  in 
various  confusion.  Some  of  them,  accordingly,  by  Mr. 
Hudson's  own  admission,*  opsnly  deny  that  "  the  res- 
urrection of  the  unjust  signifies  their  being  made  alive." 
This  brings  them  in  direct  collision  with  the  Word  of 
God.  Others  hold,  with  Mr.  Blain,  that  the  man  al- 
ready once  destroyed  is  brought  into  existence  again 
to  be  destroyed  with  a  second  and  final  destruction. 
This,  waiving  all  difficulties  on  the  score  of  identity, 
makes  the  man  suffer  the  penalty  of  the  law  twice  over, 
and  still  leaves  the  futility  of  the  second  process  un- 
solved. Mr.  Hudson  endeavors  to  escape  the  ominous 
fact  by  reducing  the  resurrection  itself  to  aminimum; 
making  it,  indeed,  no  proper  resurrection  at  all.  Hear 
him  :  "  Damaged  seeds  that  are  sown  often  exhaust 
their  vitality,  and  perish  in  the  germination  ;  and  we 
have  noted  the  fact,  that  of  insects  which  pass  through 
the  chrysalis  state  to  that  of  the  psyche,  or  butterfly, 
many,  from  injuries  suffered  in  their  original  form,  ut- 
terly perish  in  the  transition."    Then,  after  suggesting 

*  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  247;  Christ  our  Life,  p.  4. 


THE   SCRIPTURE   ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  121 

that  the  effect  of  the  gospel,  even  upon  the  wicked, 
may  be  somehow  to  prolong  a  dim  though  unconscious 
existence  after  the  bodily  decease,  dividing  "  death  it- 
self "  into  two  installments,  he  concludes  his  explana- 
tion thus  :  "  And  for  judgment,  it  is  as  if  the  unjust, 
hearing  the  voice  of  God  in  the  last  call  to  life,  should 
I  e  putting  on  a  glorious  incorruption,  and  should  per- 
ish in  the  act."  * 

We  will  not  pause  to  inquire  too  curiously  into  the 
precise  correctness  of  these  matters  of  natural  history, 
nor  into  the  closeness  of  the  parallel  attempted.  We 
will  ask  two  questions :  1.  What  shadow  of  resem- 
blance is  there  between  this  representation  of  an  ineffect- 
ual struggle  to  come  to  life  and  u  perishing  in  the  act" 
on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the  other,  the  Scripture  doc- 
trine that  all  the  dead  shall  alike  "  hear  the  voice  of 
the  Son  of  God,  and  come  forth  ;  "  that  they  shall  all 
appear  before  the  judgment-seat,  give  account  of 
the  deeds  done  in  the  body,  receive  sentence  from  the 
Judge,  and  the  wicked  shall  go  away  into  everlasting 
punishment  ?  The  Word  of  God  teaches  a  resurrection 
as  truly  of  the  unjust  as  of  the  just,  followed  by  the 
most  solemn  transactions.  Mr.  Hudson  teaches  an 
abortive  attempt  at  a  resurrection,  or  rather  an  abor- 
tive effort  of  the  wicked  to  put  on  incorrupt-ion,  —  a 
process  which  seems  itself  to  require  a  further  elucida- 
tion. 2.  What  solution  does  this  scheme  offer  to  his 
own  question,  "  Why  disturb  their  slumbers  at  all  ?  " 
For  let  it  be  remembered  the  Scriptures  represent  this 
resurrection,  not  as  a  natural  process,  but  as  a  grand 

—  ■!■■         -I  ■■  -..I.- I  ..-.  ■!- I  ■■!  —I.  .11  ...I..I-.  ■-.-,- —  —       .,-,  ,  __      ,|         I       I       .      .      ^f 

*  Debt  and  Grace,  pp.  264,  265. 


122  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

miracle  of  the  Son  of  God.  To  what  end  this  tram 
scendent  miracle,  this  vast  and  inconceivably  wonderful 
and  solemn  preparation  ?  The  Scriptures  answer,  that 
it  is  the  fitting  introduction  to  a  still  more  solemn  se- 
ries of  transactions,  and  a  destiny  commensurate.  Mr. 
Hudson  can  not  answer. his  own  question  ;  he  simply 
evades  it  by  depreciating  and  substantially  denying 
the  fact. 

The  whole  Scripture  doctrine  of  the  resurrection, 
therefore,  instead  of  lending  any  support,  furnishes  a 
most  momentous  objection,  to  the  scheme  of  annihila- 
tion. 

Equally  ineffectual  is  the  appeal  to  the  phrase,  "  the 
second  death."  The  term  might  have  been  considered 
in  connection  with  other  phrases  denoting  the  destiny 
of  the  wicked.  "  The  second  death  is  to  be  taken,"  says 
Mr.  Hudson,  "  in  the  literal  sense."  By  the  "  literal " 
sense,  he  chooses  to  mean  extinction.  And  it  deserves 
special  attention,  that,  in  his  quotations  on  this  subject 
here  and  throughout  his  volume,  wherever  the  words 
"death,"  "destruction,"  "exclusion  from  life,"  and  kin- 
dred terms  occur,  we  have  this  perpetual  juggle  on  the 
"  literal "  sense  of  terms,  which  are  often  quoted  from 
other  writers  as  though  denoting  in  those  writers  non- 
existence, but  without  foundation.  A  great  mass  of 
quotation  throughout  these  books  is  irrelevant  and 
worthless,  by  reason  of  this  pertinacious  persuasion. 
Thus  we  are  told,  for  example,  that  the  Jews  under- 
stood the  phrase  "  second  death  "  to  mean  "  exclusion 
from  life."*      But  did   they  mean   by   "life"   bare 

*  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  178. 


THE   SCRIPTURE   ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  123 

existence  ?  No.  In  the  same  way,  the  commentator 
Hammond  is  quoted  in  the  use  of  the  term  "  destruc- 
tion," as  though  he  thereby  advocated  the  doctrine  of 
annihilation.  The  persistency  of  this  mode  of  reason- 
ing strikes  us  as  one  of  the  most  thoroughly  sophisti- 
cal procedures  in  the  two  volumes  of  Mr.  Hudson  ; 
and  it  extends  through  them. 

The  phrase  "  second  death  "  occurs  but  four  times 
in  the  Bible  ;  all  these  instances  being  in  the  Apoca- 
lypse, in  one  of  which  its  meaning  is  explained.  The 
course  of  Mr.  Hudson  on  this  subject  is  quite  peculiar. 
1.  He  resorts  to  Jewish  Rabbins  to  explain  a  New-Tes- 
tament phrase.  2.  Of  these  twelve  or  thirteen  quota- 
tions from  "  early  Jewish  books,"  five,  being  from  the 
Jerusalem Targum,  date  as  low  as  the  seventh  century; 
and  others,  at  somewhat  uncertain  periods.  3.  The 
quotations  show  no  settled  usage  among  the  Rab- 
bins ;  in  one  instance,  the  phrase  being  applied  to 
the  despair  of  Rachel  at  being  childless  (Gen.  xxx.  1), 
in  another,  to  the  punishment  threatened  in  Exod.  xix. 
12  :  "  Whosoever  toucheth  the  mountain  shall  surely 
be  put  to  death."  4?  Not  one  of  the  quotations  seems 
clearly  to  sustain  the  meaning  of  annihilation,  even  in 
the  Rabbins.  Some  of  them  are  blind,  others  turn 
simply  on  the  meaning  of  these  very  terms  "  life  "  and 
"  death ; "  which  terms,  for  aught  that  appears,  are 
used  in  the  biblical  sense.* 

*  The  quotations  are  as  follows :  "  Let  Reuben  live  in  eternal  life,  and 
not  die  the  second  death."  "This  hath  been  decreed  by  the  Lord:  That 
this  sin  shall  not  be  forgiven  them  until  they  die  the  second  death."  "  Every 
idolater  who  says  that  there  is  another  God  besides  me  I  will  slay  with  the 
second  death,  from  which  no  man  can  come  to  life  again."  "  Behold,  this 
is  written  before  me:  I  will  not  give  them  long  life,  until  I  have  taken 


124  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

The  appeal  to  the  Rabbins  to  determine  the  mean* 
ing  of  a  New-Testament  term,  which  is  explained  in 
the  same  book  in  which  it  occurs,  is  as  unjustifiable  as 
it  is  ineffectual.  The  four  instances  in  which  the 
phrase  occurs  are  Rev.  ii.  11 ;  xx.  6,  14 ;  xxi.  8.  la 
the  last-mentioned  passage,  it  is  explained.  After  de- 
claring that  "  he  that  overcome th  shall  inherit  all 
things ;  and  I  will  be  his  God,  and  he  shall  be  my  son," 
the  sacred  writer  proceeds :  "  But  the  fearful  and  un- 
believing, and  the  abominable  and  murderers  and 
whoremongers  and  sorcerers,  and  idolaters,  and  all 
liars,  shall  have  their  part  in  the  lake  which  burnetii 
with  fire  and  brimstone :  which  is  the  second  death." 

The  second  death,  then,  consists  in  having  their  por- 
tion in  the  lake  which  burnetii  with  fire  and  brimstone. 
But  this  is  not  a  process  of  extinction,  but  of  continu- 
ous and  endless  suffering  ;  for  this  lake  of  fire  and  brim- 
stone is  the  same  into  which,  according  to  the  previous 
chapter,  the  Devil  shall  be  cast,  and  u  shall  be  tormented 
day  and  night  for  ever."  So,  also,  in  the  chapter  fol- 
lowing, this  same  class  of  persons  are  spoken  of  as  be- 
ing in  existence,  but  excluded  from  the  joys  of  the 
New  Jerusalem  :  "  Blessed  are  they  that  do  his  com- 

Vengeance  for  their  sins ;  and  I  will  give  their  glory  to  the  second  death." 
"  Every  thief,  or  robber  of  his  neighbor's  goods,  shall  fall  by  his  iniquities, 
that  he  may  die  the  second  death."  "  We  learn  from  this  place  (Num.  xiv. 
37)  that  they  died  the  second  death."  "  Because  he  [Cain]  was  doubly 
guilty,  he  was  slain  with  a  twofold  death,  —  the  latter  far  more  severe  than 
the  former."  "  Thev  shall  die  the  second  death,  and  shall  not  live  in  the 
world  to  come,  saith  the  Lord."  "  They  shall  die  the  second  death,  so  as 
not  to  enter  into  the  world  to  come." 

Some  of  these  passages  seem  very  clearly  not  f;o  signify  annihilation. 
Two  or  three  of  them  may,  or  they  may  not.  It  is  as  difficult  as  it  is  un- 
important to  determine  what  they  do  signify. 


THE   SCRIPTURE   ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  125 

mandments,  that  they  may  have  right  to  the  tree  of 
life,  and  may  enter  in  through  the  gates  into  the  city ; 
for  without  are  dogs  and  sorcerers  and  whoremongers 
and  murderers  and  idolaters,  and  whosoever  loveth 
and  maketh  a  lie"  (Rev.  xxii.  14). 

The  foregoing  passage  designates  most  distinctly  the 
nature  of  the  "  second  death,"  as  no  extinction,  but 
endless  suffering,  being  "  tormented  day  and  night  for 
ever."  One  other  passage  only  seems  to  describe  its 
nature,  viz.  Rev.  xx.  14,  15.  No  doubt  the  whole 
passage  in  which  it  occurs  is  attended  with  some  diffi- 
culties of  interpretation,  and  is  still  the  subject  of  con- 
troversy. On  this  account,  it  is  less  suitable  for  ascer- 
taining the  meaning  of  the  phrase  than  the  clear 
passage  already  cited.  Still,  as  it  has  been  made  the 
ground  of  objection  to  the  view  now  taken,  it  deserves 
a  brief  examination.  In  this  chapter  and  the  preced- 
ing is  set  forth  the  victorious  progress  of  him  who  is 
called  the  Word  of  God,  and  the  overthrow  of  his  ene- 
mies. First,  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet  are  over- 
thrown, and  cast  into  the  "  lake  of  fire  burning  with 
brimstone."  Afterwards,  Satan,  having  been  suffered  at 
large  for  a  time,  is  "cast  into  the  lake  of  fire  and  brim- 
stone where  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet  are,  and 
shall  be  tormented  day  and  night  for  ever  and  ever." 
Then  follows  the  judgment-scene,  the  white  throne,  the 
books  opened,  all  the  dead  summoned  before  God, 
"  death  and  hell  [hades']  delivering  up  the  dead  which 
were  in  them  ;  and  they  were  judged,  every  man  ac- 
cording to  their  works.  And  death  and  hell  [hades'] 
were  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire.     This  is  the  second 


126  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

death,   the   lake   of  fire.*      And   whosoever  was  not 
found  written  in  the  book  of  life  was  cast  into  the  lake 
of  fire."     Here  it  is  objected  that  the  casting  of  death 
and  hades  -into  the  lake  of  fire  must  be,  so  it  is  af- 
firmed, their  annihilation  ;  and  consequently  the  cast- 
ing of  the  wicked  into  the  lake  must  be  the  annihila- 
tion of  the  wicked.     To  this  we  reply,  1.  Satan  (verse 
10)  is  cast  into  the  lake,  not  to  be  annihilated,  but  for 
ever  tormented,  —  a  satisfactory  refutation.    The  same 
thing  is  indicated  in  regard  to  the  beast  and  the  false 
prophet,  when  it  said  they  were  "  cast  alive  into  the 
lake."     With  this,  also,  is  connected  the  statement  in 
chap.  xiv.  10,  11,  that  the  worshipers  of   the  beast 
"  shall  drink  of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  God,  which  is 
poured  out  without  mixture  into  the  cup  of  his  indig- 
nation ;  shall  be  tormented  with  fire  and  brimstone  in 
the  presence  of  the  holy  angels,  and  in  the  presence  of 
the  Lamb :  the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  up 
for  ever  and  ever,  and  they  have  no  rest  day  nor  night." 
2.  The  one  point  of  the  representation  throughout  is 
the  victory  of  Christ  over  all  his  foes,  and  the  over- 
throw of  their  power.     The  beast  and  false  prophet  — 
representatives  of  living  beings  —  are  overcome  and 
punished,  and  their  ascendency  overthrown.     Satan,  a 
personality,  is  overcome  and  punished,  and  his  power 
broken.     All  human  foes  are  overcome,  and  cast  into 
the  same  place  of  punishment  with  Satan.     And,  to  set 
forth  the  absolute  completeness  of  the  victory,  death 
and  hades,  which,  in  the  New  Testament,  are   repre- 
sented as  foes  of  the  redeemed  and  of  the  Redeemer's 

*  This  last  clause,  omitted  in  the  received  text,  is  found  in  the  three  old- 
est manuscripts,  and  admitted  by  the  latest  scholars  and  editors. 


THE   SCRIPTURE  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  127 

kingdom,  are  here  personified  ;  and  they  too  are  pun- 
ished like  the  rest,  and  their  power  overthrown.  For 
this  representation  of  hostility  see  1  Cor.  xv.  26  :  "  Tiie 
last  enemy  that  shall  be  destroyed  is  death."  Verse  55 : 
"  0  death,  where  is  thy  sting  ?  0  grave  [hades]  where 
is  thy  victory  ?  "  Matt.  xvi.  18  :  "  Thou  art  Peter, 
and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church ;  and  the 
gates  of  hell  [hades']  shall  not  prevail  against  it."  * 
The  representation  is  not  of  extinction,  but  of  over- 
throw and  punishment.  If  it  be  said  that  the  overthrow 
of  death  and  hades  is  their  extinction,  that  is  an  inci- 
dental fact,  if  fact  it  be,  and  grows  out  of  the  circum- 
stance that  they  are  both  personified  abstractions,  and 
not  living  beings.  The  living  beings,  or  representatives 
of  living  beings,  as  appears  from  the  passage  under 
discussion,  continue  in  existence  and  in  suffering.  Mr. 
Hudson,  however,  remarks  of  the  phrase,  "  shall  be 
tormented  day  and  night  for  ever,"  "  We  think  the  lan- 
guage describes  their  utter  and  irrevocable  destruction 
[annihilation]  in  a  dramatic  form."  f  On  which  all 
that  need  be  said  is,  that  a  more  utter  perversion  of 
language,  perhaps,  can  not  be  found,  unless  it  be  in  the 
advocates  of  this  system  and  of  universal  salvation. 
3.  The  extinction  of  death  and  hades,  if  we  should 
grant  that  consequence,  has  no  bearing  upon  the  ques- 
tion of  endless  punishment.  The  "  second  death  "  re- 
mains, from  which  no  deliverance  comes.  The  "  death 
and  hades  "  here  spoken  of  are  simply  the  persouifica- 

*  Even  in  Matt  xi.  23,  Luke  xvi.  23,  Rev.  i.  18,  xx.  13,  if  the  idea 
of  a  direct  hostility  is  not  implied,  that  of  opposition  or  antithesis  to  heaven 
and  the  kingdom  of  Christ  always  remain. 

t  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  215. 


128  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

tion  of  physical  death.  This  is  overcome,  being  reck- 
oned as  one  of  the  enemies  of  Christ's  redeemed  ;  just 
as,  in  1  Cor.  xv.  26,  we  are  told,  "  The  last  enemy  that 
shall  be  destroyed  is  death  "  (compare  verses  5-1-57).* 
This  is  the  whole  aim  of  the  present  passage,  to  sot 
forth  the  overthrow  of  thanatos  and  hades  —  physical 
death  —  as  hostile  to  Christ  and  his  subjects.  All 
death  is  not  abolished,  when  the  first  death  and  the  grave 
are  overthrown,  and  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire.  There 
is  another  death  remaining,  which  consists  in  being 
"  tormented  day  and  night  for  ever  and  ever."  "  This 
is  the  second  death,  the  lake  of  fire."  Into  that  are 
cast  all  the  foes  of  Christ  and  his  subjects, — the  beast, 
the  false  prophet,  the  devil,  all  the  wicked,  and  death 
itself,  the  attendant  of  sin  and  long  the  terror  of  the 
righteous.  Accordingly,  in  the  next  chapter  (xxi.  4) 
we  read,  "  There  shall  be  no  more  death"  to  the  people 
of  God,  while  (verse  8)  the  unbelieving  shall  reap 
"  the  second  death,"  having  their  portion  in  the  lake 
that  burnetii  with  fire  and  brimstone. 

*  So  Alford,  Dtisterdieck,  Brdckner. 


CHAPTER    VL 

THE  EATIONAL  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED. 

A  CHIEF  reliance  of  the  advocates  of  annihilation 
is  on  the  rational  argument.  By  Mr.  Hudson 
and  Mr.  Hastings,  this  reliance  is  made  quite  prominent. 
The  latter  writer  declares  that  "  the  doctrine  of  eter- 
nal anguish  and  torture  of  the  lost  is  in  itself  so  ut- 
terly opposed  to  our  natural  conceptions  of  God  as 
revealed  in  the  Bible,  that  it  staggers  the  faith  of  the 
most  devout ;  how  then  can  it  be  received  by  the  un- 
believing ?  In  the  language  of  Bishop  Newton,  '  Im- 
agine it  you  may,  but  you  can  never  seriously  believe 
it.'  Hence  many  minds  reject  revelation  entirely,  be- 
cause it  teaches,  as  they  suppose,  a  doctrine  so  utterly 
repugnant  to  common  sense  and  divine  goodness.' '  In 
the  midst  of  other  remarks  to  the  same  purport,  namely, 
the  entire  incredibleness  of  the  doctrine,  he  proceeds : 
"  We  say,  first  decide  from  the  Bible  whether  the  doc- 
trine of  eternal  torment  be  true,  and  then,  if  we  find 
no  such  thing  is  there  taught,  reject  and  oppose  it  as 
the  most  terrific  blasphemy,  the  most  audacious  and 
unmitigated  libel  ever  uttered  against  a  God  of  love."  * 
The  reader  can  judge  how  much  meaning  there  is  in 

*  Pauline  Theology,  pp.  76,  78.    Except  in  the  last  sentence,  the  Italics 
are  his. 

9  129 


130  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

the  faint  exhortation  to  examine  the  Scriptures,  corn- 
ing  from  one  who  so  peremptorily  declares  the  impos- 
sibility of  believing  the  doctrine.  With  smoother  and 
more  temperate  phrase  indeed,  but  with  a  distinctness 
which  the  reader  is  requested  to  ponder,  Mr.  Hudson, 
after  a  metaphysical  discussion  of  the  whole  subject, 
extending  through  a  hundred  and  fifty-seven  pages, 
advances  to  the  Scripture  testimony  with  the  remark, 
"  If  our  doctrine  of  evil  be  true,  it  gives  us  a  valid 
theism"  * 

As  we  are  not  discussing  this  subject  to  convince 
rejecters  of  the  Bible,  but  for  the  satisfaction  of  those 
who  receive  it  as  the  Word  of  God  and  as  the  ultimate 
authority,  it  is  unnecessary  to  follow  out  the  subject 
in  its  full  extent.  The  question  is  with  us,  at  present, 
simply  a  question  of  testimony  to  a  matter  of  fact.  If 
the  testimony  is  distinct  and  valid,  metaphysical  or 
other  objections  must,  as  in  all  other  questions  of  fact, 
go  for  nothing.  Still,  as  some  of  these  argum3nts  are 
quite  common,  and  admit  of  a  very  ready  answer,  we 
will  give  them  a  passing  notice. 

They  are  drawn  from  the  nature  of  evil,  and  the 
nature  of  God. 

Evil,  it  is  affirmed,  must  be  temporary,  because  (1) 
it  is  not  needful  to  God's  universe  in  any  mode,  and 
(2)  because  it  is  in  its  own  nature  frail. 

As  to  the  first  point,  sin  is  not  indeed  necessary,  nor 
is  it  the  necessary  means  of  the  greatest  good.  But 
no  man  who  believes  that  God  has  made  the  best  sys- 
tem can  deny  that  the  power  freely  to  commit  sin  was 

*  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  158. 


THE  RATIONAL  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  131 

indispensable  to  the  best  system  of  moral  agency.  And, 
though  not  necessary  in  itself,  sin  is  a  fact ;  and  hav- 
ing become  a  fact,  and  a  universal  one,  some  better 
reason  than  this  must  be  given  to  show  why,  having  once 
entered  the  system,  it  may  not  continue  for  ever. 
Though  not  necessary,  it  came  ;  much  more,  it  may 
remain. 

As  to  the  frailty  of  evil,  Mr.  Hudson  has  devoted  to 
this  point  some  pages,  of  which  the  chief  allegations 
are,  that  sin  is  a  derangement  and  disease  of  man's 
faculties  ;  that  its  pains  are  marks  of  decay  and  her- 
alds of  death  ;  and  finally,  that  sin  "  has  no  substance, 
is  not  an  entity,  is  the  antithesis  of  being."  The  first 
two  of  these  statements  are  much  the  same  with  certain 
teachings  of  the  Bible,  which,  however,  the. writer  does 
not  choose  to  find  there.  But  when  it  is  affirmed  that  its 
pains  are  signs  of  decay  and  "heralds  of  death,"  in 
the  sense  of  coming  non-existence,  the  statement  has 
no  foundation.  All  high  emotions  exhaust  the  bodily 
powers  ;  but  the  pains  of  sin  no  more  reduce  the  exist- 
ence of  the  soul  than  do  the  joys  of  holiness.  Indeed, 
the  vast  depths  of  its  being  and  inextinguishable  vital- 
ity are  oftenest  exhibited  in  the  anguish  of  its  sins. 
And  for  the  "  nothingness  "  of  evil,  its  being  "  no  sub- 
stance," and  the  like,  men  may  amuse  themselves  with 
such  phraseology  as  long  as  they  please.  It  is  nothing 
at  last  but  word-play.  Whether  sin  be  "  an  entity  " 
or  not,  it  is  one  of  the  most  universal,  ineradicable,  and 
appalling  facts  in  the  history  of  the  human  race.  For 
six  thousand  years  it  has  been  exhibiting  a  terrific 
power.     Its  "  frailty  "  of  nature  remains  to  be  proved. 

But  what  is  there  in  the  nature  of  God  to  indicate 


132  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

that  all  evil  shall  be  banished  from  his  universe  ?  It 
may  be  alleged  that  his  power,  benevolence,  and  wis- 
dom are  guaranties  of  such  a  result. 

But  the  first  two  considerations  are  of  themselves 
entirely  inadequate.  We  will  grant  that  he  has  the 
perfect  power  to  expel  all  evil  by  the  extinction  either 
of  its  perpetrators  or  of  their  evil  propensities.  But 
the  use  that  he  will  make  of  that  power  depends  en- 
tirely on  other  attributes. 

We  will  concede  that  his  benevolence  will  seek  and 
secure  the  highest  good  of  his  universe.  But  how  is 
that  end  to  be  accomplished  ?  The  whole  question 
hinges  at  last  on  this  other  :  Is  the  wisdom  of  God  a 
perfect  guaranty  to  us  that  he  will  secure  the  highest 
good  of  his  universe  by  bringing  all  sin  to  an  end  ? 
And  this,  again,  is  but  the  same  as  asking,  Do  we  our- 
selves so  certainly  know  the  whole  method  in  which 
Infinite  Wisdom  would  govern  a  universe,  that  we  can 
pronounce  with  confidence  on  the  mode  in  which  it 
will  deal  with  sin  ?  in  other  words  (for  it  comes  to 
that),  Are  we  ourselves  possessed  of  infinite  wisdom, — 
the  wisdom  of  God  ?  If  not,  then  we  can  not  affirm 
that  Infinite  Wisdom  requires  the  banishment  of  sin 
and  sinners  from  his  universe. 

But  we  are  not  left  to  a  negative  result,  though 
that  alone  annihilates  the  objection  with  which  we  are 
dealing.  We  have  positive  and  unmistakable  evi- 
dence on  the  question,  whether  the  wisdom  or  any 
other  of  the  perfections  of  God  necessarily,  or  even 
certainly,  excludes  sin  from  this  universe  of  which  he  is 
sovereign.  It  is  the  evidence  of  fact.  The  perfections 
of  God  did  not  prevent  sin  from  entering  the  world, 


THE  RATIONAL   ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  133 

nor  have  they  prevented  its  remaining  age  after  age 
during  the  whole  history  of  the  human  race  thus 
far,  for  at  least  six  thousand  years.  Now,  whatever 
force  there  might  seem  to  be  in  the  argument  that  the 
wisdom  of  God  requires  him  finally  to  drive  out  sin 
from  his  universe,  it  might  be  urged  with  tenfold 
force  that  he  never  would  suffer  it  to  enter  a  universe 
where  all  was  holiness  and  harmony,  and  that  he 
never  would  suffer  it  to  remain  in  that  universe  for  an 
hour.  Facts  show,  then,  that  the  argument  is  abso- 
lutely worthless.  And  it  is  not  easy  suitably  to  cha- 
racterize the  hardihood  of  an  argument  which  boldly 
affirms  God's  perfections  to  be  incompatible  with  the 
existence  of  that  which  he  has  permitted  to  continue 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world  until  now. 

But  perhaps  it  is  said,  the  eternal  continuance  of  evil 
is  a  very  different  thing  from  its  tolerance  in  this  world. 
How  different  ?  Not  in  principle,  certainly,  but  only  in 
degree.  It  is  only  more  of  the  very  same  thing.  If 
there  is  nothing  incompatible  with  God's  perfections  in 
its  existence  to-day  and  the  past  six  thousand  years, 
how  is  there  to-morrow,  or  any  other  day,  or  six  thou- 
sand years,  or  through  all  eternity  ?  It  is  only  repeat- 
ing precisely  the  same  process  one  day  at  a  time ;  and 
the  process  goes  on  for  ever. 

The  statement  of  Archbishop  Whately  on  this  point 
is  clear  and  unanswerable :  "  The  existence  of  any 
evil  at  all  in  the  creation  is  a  mystery  we  can  not  ex- 
plain. It  is  a  difficulty  which  may  perhaps  be  cleared 
up  to  us  in  a  future  state  ;  but  the  Scriptures  give  us 
no  revelation  concerning  it.  And  those  who  set  at  de- 
fiance the  plain  and  obvious  sense  of  Scripture,  by 


134  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

contending  (as  some  do)  for  the  final  admission  to 
eternal  happiness  of  all  men,  in  order  (as  they  them- 
selves profess)  to  get  over  the  difficulty  by  this  means, 
and  to  reconcile  the  existence  of  evil  with  the  benevo- 
lence of  God,  do  not,  in  fact,  after  all,  when  they  have 
put  the  most  forced  interpretation  on  the  words  of  the 
sacred  writers,  advance  one  single  step  towards  their 
point.  For  the  main  difficulty  is  not  the  amount  of 
the  evil  that  exists,  but  the  existence  of  any  at  all. 
Any,  even  the  smallest,  portion  of  evil  is  quite  unac- 
countable, supposing  that  the  same  amount  of  good 
could  be  attained  without  that  evil ;  and  why  it  is  not 
so  attainable  is  more  than  we  are  able  to  explain. 
And  if  there  be  some  reason  we  can  not  understand 
why  a  small  amount  of  evil  is  unavoidable,  there  may 
be,  for  aught  we  know,  the  same  reason  for  a  greater 
amount.  I  will  undertake  to  explain  to  any  one  the 
final  condemnation  of  the  wicked,  if  he  will  explain  to 
me  the  existence  of  the  wicked  ;  if  he  will  explain  why 
God  does  not  cause  all  those  to  die  in  the  cradle,  of 
whom  he  foresees,  that,  when  they  grow  up,  they  will 
lead  a  sinful  life.  The  thing  can  not  be  explained.  .  .  . 
All  we  can  say  is,  that,  for  some  unknown  cause,  evil  is 
unavoidable.  Now,  it  is  a  manifest  absurdity  to  at- 
tempt to  explain  and  limit  the  operations  of  an  unknown 
cause. 

u  It  would  indeed  be  very  consolatory  to  be  able  to 
make  out,  on  sufficient  grounds,  that  the  total  amount 
of  suffering,  past,  present,  and  future,  in  the  universe  is 
far  less  than  we  had  imagined.  But  even  if  we  could 
satisfv  ourselves  of  this,  —  if  we  could  discover  that 
not  a  hundredth  part  of  the  evil  that  we  believe  to  ex- 


THE   RATIONAL  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  135 

ist  really  does  exist,  still,  as  I  have  said,  the  diminu- 
tion of  the  evil  itself  would  not  at  all  diminish  the 
difficulty,  I  may  say  the  impossibility,  of  explaining 
how  it  comes  to  pass,  that,  in  the  work  of  a  benevolent 
Creator,  there  should  be  any  evil  at  all. 

"  Unthinking  people,  however,  are  apt  to  fancy  that 
a  difficulty  is  itself  diminished  if  the  thing  is  dimin- 
ished about  which  the  difficulty  arises.  For  instance, 
it  is  admitted,  as  is  well  known,  to  be  impossible  for 
man  to  annihilate  any  portion  of  material  substance. 
We  can  destroy  its  form,  as  by  tearing  this  book  into 
shreds ;  or  we  can  divide  it  into  particles  invisible  to 
our  eyes,  as  by  burning  it,  so  as  to  disperse  part  of  it 
into  vapor  and  smoke,  and  scatter  away  the  ashes  that 
remain  :  but  we  can  not  annihilate,  that  is,  cause  to 
exist  no  longer,  the  material  substance.  And,  as  im- 
possibility does  not  admit  of  different  degrees,  it  is 
equally  impossible  to  annihilate  the  smallest  as  the 
largest  quantity  of  matter.  And  yet,  perhaps,  some 
people,  if  they  were  told  that  some  chemist  had  suc- 
ceeded in  annihilating  a  few  grains  of  sand,  though 
they  might  not  absolutely  believe  the  report,  yet  would 
not  be  so  much  startled  at  the  extravagance  of  it,  as 
if  it  had  been  said  that  he  had  annihilated  some  huge 
mountain.  Again :  it  is  thought  by  most  to  be  im- 
possible (at  least,  they  would  have  great  difficulty  in 
admitting  it)  to  convert,  as  some  ancient  chemists  at- 
tempted to  do,  the  baser  metals  into  gold  ;  and  I  sup- 
pose most  persons,  if  they  were  told  of  some  one 
having  changed  several  tons  of  lead  into  gold,  would 
at  once  reject  the  account  as  an  idle  tale ;  but  if  they 
were  told  that  it  was  only  a  few  grains,  some,  I  ima- 


136  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

gine,  would  feel  less  confidence  in  the  falsity  of  the  re 
port.     And  yet,  if  the'  difficulty  is  to  conceive  how  lead 
can  become  gold,  that  difficulty  is  not  at  all  lessened 
by  lessening  the  quantity  of  the  metal. 

"And  so  it  is  with  some  unthinking  persons  in  respect 
of  the  present  subject.  If  they  can  devise  some  the- 
ory which  will  explain  away  great  part  of  the  supposed 
amount  of  evil  in  the  universe,  they  hastily  conclude 
that  they  have  explained  away  some  part,  at  least,  of 
the  difficulty  presented  by  the  existence  of  evil.  Our 
distress  and  alarm,  indeed,  would  be  diminished  by  a 
diminution  of  the  evil  that  exists  ;  but  the  difficulty 
would  remain  precisely  the  same.  And  of  this,  as  I 
have  said,  no  explanation  can  be  framed  by  human 
reason,  or  is  to  be  found  in  Scripture."  * 

And  so  there  is  no  difficulty  encountered  in  the  doc- 
trine of  the  continuance  of  sin  and  suffering  in  eter- 
nity, which  is  not  already  encountered  in  the  fact  of 
its  existence  in  and  through  all  time.  And  the  argu- 
ment which  breaks  down  before  these  present  facts  is 
good  for  nothing  as  a  basis  of  future  predictions. 

But  perhaps  it  may  still  be  argued,  there  are  spe- 
cial reasons  why  evil  is  admitted  and  tolerated  in  this 
present  world, —  disciplinary  uses  to  the  sinner  himself, 
salutary  impressions  and  influences  on  the  universe, 
or  exhibitions  of  the  character  of  God,  or  grounds  un- 
known to  us ;  but  these  reasons  will  cease  with  the 
present  life.  We  answer,  that,  in  the  first  place,  this 
reply  concedes  the  main  point,  and  admits  that  the 
permission  of  sin  and  misery  for  sufficient  reasons  is 

*  Whately's  Future  State,  p.  175. 


THE   RATIONAL   ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  137 

perfectly  compatible  with  God's  perfections,  and  there- 
fore just,  so  long  as  valid  reasons  exist.  If  those  good 
reasons  always  exist,  then  evil  may  be  permitted  for 
ever.  The  question  then  changes  to  this  :  Can  any 
man  prove  that  God,  who  has  seen  good  reasons  for  suf- 
fering the  introduction  of  sin,  and  its  existence  for  many 
thousand  years  already,  with  every  prospect  of  its  con- 
tinuance for  a  still  longer  period,  can  have  no  good 
reason  whatever  for  suffering  its  continuance  in  the 
world  to  come  ?  And  this  question  involves  two  in- 
quiries :  First,  Does  any  man  know  the  reasons,  all  the 
reasons,  why  God  permitted  sin  to  enter  and  occupy 
this  universe  at  all  ?-  Second,  Does  he  know  that  those 
reasons  will  all  cease  hereafter  ?  He  is  a  bold  man 
who  ventures  to  answer  the  first  of  these  questions  in 
the  affirmative  ;  for  he  claims  to  have  fathomed  the 
whole  mind  of  God.  And  bolder  yet,  if  possible,  is  the 
man  who  ventures  to  affirm  the  second,  while  he  can 
not  affirm  the  first ;  who  dares  to  assert  that  the  meth- 
ods of  God  must  certainly  change,  while  yet  he  does 
not  know  on  what  they  are  founded. 

It  is  therefore  entirely  unnecessary  to  follow  out  in 
detail  the  argument,  in  whatsoever  form  presented, which 
endeavors,  by  its  theory  of  God,  or  its  "  theodicy,"  as 
the  phrase  is,  to  prove  that  sin  must  come  to  an  end. 
It  has  a  fatal  lack  of  fact  for  its  basis. 

And  not  only  so,  it  is  sadly  in  conflict  with  all  the 
factb  which  seem  related  to  the  case.  The  history  of 
the  human  race,  and  of  the  angelic  race  thus  far,  has  a 
very  unfortunate  bearing  on  it.  Had  God  never  suf- 
fered moral  evil  to  break  in  on  his  universe,  very  likely 
we  should  have  thought  that  his  perfections  constituted 


138  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

an  incontrovertible  argument  that  he  never  would 
suffer  it.  Had  he  even  on  the  first  irruption  of  sin 
instantly  hurled  it  out,  by  whatsoever  method,  annihi- 
lation or  restoration,  we  might  still  have  had  some 
confidence  in  this  argument  against  its  permanence. 
Had  he  blotted  out  the  sinning  race,  and  started  an- 
other, pure  and  spotless ;  had  he  manifested  some 
special  haste  to  bring  the  sinful  race  to  an  end  ;  did 
he  continue  in  existence  only  those  fallen  beings  who 
were  on  probation,  or  those  only  whose  probation  would 
surely  bring  them  to  repentance,  and  cut  off  at  once 
all  those  who,  he  knew,  would  never  repent, —  we  might 
still  allow  some  weight  to  the  argument.  Or  could 
some  man  show  very  clearly  and  certainly  some  great 
end  to  be  accomplished  by  permitting  sin  for  many 
thousand  years,  which  must  wholly  cease  at  some  par- 
ticular time  ;  or  some  valid  reason  for  continuing  one 
finally  impenitent  sinner  for  a  long  term  of  years,  and 
for  repeating  the  process  millions  on  millions  of  times, 
which  reason  can  not  possibly  exist  except  in  their  par- 
ticular circumstances, —  the  reasoning  would  have  some 
force.  But,  unfortunately,  every  one  of  these  particu- 
lars is  against  the  argument.  God  did  not  exclude 
nor  banish  sin.  He  did  not  narrow  it  down  to  the  least 
possible  time,  nor  the  fewest  possible  individuals.  He 
has  not  exterminated  the  sinning  race,  but  has  suffered 
it  to  drag  on  its  protracted  and  sinful  career.  He  has 
continued  in  existence  for  an  unknown  length  of  time 
a  race  of  sinful  beings  to  whom  we  have  no  knowledge 
that  any  offer  of  recovery  was  ever  made.  He  pro- 
longs on  earth  the  lives  of  multitudes  of  sinners  who 
do  not  repent,  and   who,  he  knew  beforehand,  would 


THE  RATIONAL  ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  139 

not  repent.  Thousands  and  millions  of  these  sinners 
he  suffers  thus  to  prolong  their  lives  on  earth,  not  only 
to  no  purpose  so  far  as  their  own  final  welfare  is  con- 
cerned, but,  as  far  as  we  can  see,  to  no  purpose  as  a 
warning  to  other  sinners ;  yea,  rather  to  introduce 
other  sinners  into  the  world,  and  to  be  the  means  of 
keeping  countless  thousands  away  from  God.  Such 
are  the  facts.  They  prove  that  the  permission  of  sin 
and  suffering  is  perfectly  consistent  with  the  perfec- 
tions of  God  ;  that  the  reasons  for  their  continuance 
do  not  necessarily  contemplate  the  recovery,  or  even 
the  probation,  of  the  sinner ;  and  that  those  reasons 
are  wholly  beyond  our  complete  apprehension.  The 
aspect  of  the  case,  from  the  facts  which  lie  before  us, 
affords  no  objection  whatever  to  the  eternal  continuance 
of  evil.  On  the  other  hand,  it  shows  that  if  God  see 
adequate  reasons,  he  may  properly  continue  this  state 
of  things  for  ever ;  and,  in  our  entire  inability  to 
fathom  the  reasons  for  its  present  and  past  existence, 
holds  out,  of  itself,  a  very  strong  presumption  that  he 
may  deem  it  wise  to  suffer  the  continuance  of  evil  in  the 
future  world.  No  man  can  allege  a  ground  for  the 
final  extinction  of  all  sin,  that  did  not  exist  still  more 
strongly  for  its  original  exclusion.  No  man  can  give 
a  reason  for  the  annihilation  of  the  sinner  at  the  end 
of  fourscore  years,  which  did  not  exist  a  fortiori  for 
his  non-creation,  or  for  his  extinction  at  the  first  trans- 
gression. No  reason  can  be  given  why  evil  should  be 
exterminated  when  probation  has  ceased,  which  would 
not  bar  its  permission  where  no  probation  was  offered, 
or  where  probation  was  known  to  be  fruitless. 

There  is  still  one  other  shape  in  which  the  opposing 


140  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

argument  may  be  advanced.  Thus:  The  protracted 
existence  of  sin  and  suffering  is  compatible  with  God's 
perfections,  only  because  of  his  coming  final  and  per- 
fect triumph  over  it.  We  answer,  First,  This  fully 
concedes  the  main  principle  at  issue,  namely,  that  the 
permission  of  sin  for  a  good  reason  is  perfectly  defensi- 
ble, while  somewhat  presumptuously  asserting  that 
there  can  be  but  one  good  reason.  Secondly,  The  rea- 
son assigned  overthrows  the  position  which  it  endea- 
vors to  sustain ;  for  if  it  be,  as  the  argument  admits 
and  assumes,  more  honorable  to  God,  and  more  truly  a 
triumph,  to  show  his  mighty  ascendency  in  the  uni- 
verse, after  the  protracted  admission  of  sin  and  suffer- 
ing, than  by  its  utter  exclusion,  then,  on  the  same 
principle,  a  fortiori,  it  is  a  still  grander  triumph  in  him 
to  show  that  ascendency  and  glory  over  the  eternal  op- 
position of  sin. 

Considered  thus  in  whatsoever  light,  the  argument 
drawn  from  the  perfections  of  God  against  the  future 
existence  of  evil,  is,  in  view  of  the  plain  facts  of  this 
universe,  entirely  fallacious,  and  hardly  even  specious. 

It  is  quite  customary  with  the  advocates  of  annihila- 
tion (as  well  as  the  teachers  of  universal  salvation)  to 
garnish  their  argument  with  extracts  from  a  letter 
of  Rev.  John  Foster,  in  which,  while  admitting  that 
^  the  language  of  Scripture  is  formidably  strong"  in 
support  of  the  doctrine  of  eternal  punishment,  he  des- 
cants dismally  but  powerfully  upon  the  terrible  aspect 
of  the  case.  The  point  of  the  whole  is  contained  in  the 
following  paragraph :  "  Under  the  light  (or  the  dark- 
ness) of  this  doctrine,  how  inconceivably  mysterious  and 
awful  is  the  whole  economy  of  this  human  world !    The 


THE  RATIONAL   ARGUMENT  EXAMINED.  141 

immensely  greater  number  of  the  race  hitherto, 
through  all  ages  and  regions,  passing  a  short  life,  un- 
der no  illuminating,  transforming  influence  of  their 
Creator  (ninety-nine  in  a  hundred  of  them,  perhaps, 
having  never  even  received  any  authenticated  message 
from  Heaven),  passing  off  the  world  in  a  state  unfit  for 
a  spiritual,  happy,  and  heavenly  kingdom  elsewhere, — 
and  all  destined  to  everlasting  misery.  The  thought- 
ful spirit  has  a  question  silently  suggested  to  it  of  a  far 
more  emphatic  import  than  that  of  him  who  exclaimed, 
*  Hast  thou  made  all  men  in  vain  ? '  " 

But  Mr.  Foster  best  answers  himself  by  another  pic- 
ture, equally  lugubrious  and  direful,  which  he  has 
drawn  of  the  aspect  of  things  in  this  world  hitherto, 
and  irrespective  of  any  future  state.  He  writes* to  Mr. 
Harris  in  the  following  strain  :  "  I  hope,  indeed  may 
assume,  that  you  are  a  man  of  cheerful  temperament ; 
but  are  you  not  sometimes  invaded  by  the  darkest  vis- 
ions and  reflections,  while  casting  your  view  over  the 
scene  of  human  existence  from  the  beginning  to  this 
hour  ?  To  me  it  appears  a  most  mysterious  and  awful 
economy,  overspread  by  a  dreadful  and  lurid  shade.  I 
pray  for  piety  to  maintain  a  humble  submission  of 
thought  and  feeling  to  the  wise  and  righteous  Disposer 
of  all  existence.  But  to  see  a  nature,  created  in  purity, 
ruined  at  the  very  origin,  etc.,  the  grand  remedial  vis- 
itation, Christianity,  laboring  in  a  difficult  progress ; 
soon  perverted ;  at  the  present  hour  known  and  even 
nominally  acknowledged  by  very  greatly  the  minority 
of  the  race  ;  its  progress  distanced  by  the  increase  of 
the  population  ;  thousands  every  day  passing  out  of 
the  world  in  no  state  of  fitness  for  a  pure  and  happy 


142  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

state  elsewhere,  —  oh,  it  is  a  most  confounding  and  ap- 
palling contemplation ! " 

Thus  the  condition  and  history  of  things  in  the  pres- 
ent world  are  described  by  Mr.  Foster  in  the  same 
mode  in  which  he  paints  the  retributions  of  the  future 
world;  and,  by  his  own  showing,  it  appears  that  the 
same  kind  of  impeachment  against  God's  character  may 
be  drawn  from  the  one  as  from  the  other.  The  objec- 
tion is  therefore  null. 


JPJ±  RT     II. 


POSITIVE  DISPROOF  OP  THE  DOCTRINE  OP 

ANNIHILATION. 


CHAPTER  I. 

BELIEF   OP    A    FUTURE    EXISTENCE    AMONG    THE    EARLIER 

JEWS. 

WHEN  we  would  weigh  the  teachings  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles  on  the  subject  of  punishment, 
it  is  important  to  know  what  views  prevailed  among 
their  immediate  hearers.  Those  inspired  teachers 
knew  how  their  words  could  not  fail  to  be  understood, 
and  spoke  accordingly.  And  it  may  be  well  to  consi- 
der, not  only  what  was  the  then  existing  view,  but  what 
had  been  the  early  education,  of  that  people. 

Now  it  can  be  conclusively  shown  that  the  belief  of 
another  state  of  existence  was  familiar  to  that  people 
from  ancient  times. 

1.  It  is  incredible,  not  to  say  impossible,  that  the  Is- 
raelites should  have  lived  in  Egypt  for  many  genera- 
tions, without  being  thoroughly  conversant  with  the 
belief  of  a  future  state.  The  doctrine  of  the  continued 
existence  of  the  soul  after  death,  and  in  a  state  of  re 

143 


144  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

ward  or  of  suffering,  was  one  of  the  most  prominent 
religious  beliefs  of  the  Egyptians.  All  attempts  to 
cast  doubt  or  confusion  on  this  prime  fact  of  the  Egyp- 
tian religion  is  idle,  if  not  dishonest.* 

Herodotus,  the  oldest  Greek  historian,  indicates  the 
remote  antiquity,  as  well  as  the  prominence,  of  this 
doctrine  among  the  Egyptians,  when  he  says  that "  they 
were  the  first  to  broach  the  opinion  that  the  soul  of 
man  is  immortal."  f  But  we  do  not  depend  upon  the 
testimony  of  foreigners.  The  Egyptians  themselves 
have  made  their  own  clear  record.  Delineations  of 
judgment-scenes  in  the  other  world  are  among  the 
most  abundant  of  the  old  Egyptian  records.  They  are 
found  on  the  papyri,  in  the  temples,  and  especially  in 
the  tombs.  Here,  with  some  variety  of  detail,  abun- 
dantly recurs  the  same  fundamental  representation. 
The  deceased  person,  in  charge  of  the  god  Horus,  is 
brought  toward  Osiris,  the  judge  of  the  dead.  Near 
the  gates  of  Amenti,  the  region  of  the  blessed,  stand 
the  scales  of  Justice  ;  and  the  god  Anubis,  placing 
in  the  one  scale  a  vase  representing  the  good  actions  of 
the  deceased,  and  in  the  other  the  emblem  of  Truth, 
ascertains  the  result.  If  found  wanting,  Osiris  inclines 
his  scepter  in  token  of  condemnation,  and  remands  the 
soul,  in  the  form  of  an  unclean  animal,  back  to  earth  ; 
and  all  communication  with  Amenti  is  hewn  away  be- 
hind him.  But,  if  his  virtues  predominate,  Horus,  tab- 
let in  hand,  leads  him  forward  to  dwell  in  the  presence 
of  Osiris  and  the  mansions  of  the  blessed.  A  full  ac- 
count of  these  paintings  may  be  found  in  Wilkinson's 

*  See  Hudson's  unworthy  attempt:  Future  Life,  p.  268. 
f  Herodotus,  Book  ii.  sect.  123. 


BELIEF   OF   THE   EARLIER  JEWS.  145 

Popular  Account  of  the  Egyptians.*  The  same  writer, 
in  the  notes  of  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  makes  the  fol- 
lowing declaration, — the  declaration  of  an  eye-witness: 
"  This  [doctrine  of  immortality]  was  the  great  doctrine 
of  the  Egyptians,  and  their  belief  in  it  is  everywhere 
proclaimed  in  the  paintings  of  the  tombs.  But  the 
souls  of  wicked  men  alone  appear  to  have  suffered 
the  disgrace  of  entering  the  body  of  an  animal,  when, 
weighed  in  the  balance  before  the  tribunal  of  Osiris, 
they  were  pronounced  unworthy  to  enter  the  abode  of 
the  blessed.  .  .  .  There  is  every  indication  in  the 
Egyptian  sculptures,  of  the  souls  of  good  men  being  ad- 
mitted at  once,  after  a  favorable  judgment  had  been 
passed  on  them,  into  the  presence  of  Osiris,  whose  mys- 
terious name  they  were  permitted  to  assume.  Men 
and  women  were  then  called  Osiris,  who  was  the  ab- 
stract idea  of 'goodness;'  and  there  was  no  distinction 
of  sex  or  rank  when  a  soul  had  attained  that  privi- 
lege.'7 f 

Proofs  on  this  subject  are  abundant  and  incontro- 
vertible. The  question  is  set  at  rest.  Bunsen,  in  his 
great  work  on  Egypt,  speaks1  thus :  "  The  Egyptians 
were  the  first  who  taught  the  doctrine  of  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul, — a  fact  mentioned  by  all  Greek  writ- 
ers from  Herodotus  to  Aristotle,  and  one  brilliantly 
confirmed  by  the  monuments."  %  In  addition  to  the 
delineations  of  the  monuments,  a  papyrus  has  been  dis- 
covered in  the  Tombs  of  the  Kings  at  Thebes,  and  re- 
cently translated  by  Mr.  Birch,  of  the  British  Museum, 

*  Vol.  ii.,  pp.  375-383. 

t  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  vol.  ii.  pp.  168,169. 
X  Egypt's  Place  in  Universal  History,  vol.  iv.  pp.  639  et  seq. 
10 


146  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

entitled  the  Book  of  the  Dead.  It  describes  the 
acts  or  adventures  of  the  soul  of  the  deceased,  and 
contains  his  prayers,  invocations,  and  confessions  on 
his  long  journey  through  the  celestial  gates.  Bunsen 
gives  an  analysis  of  the  work,  with  extracts,  and  pro- 
ceeds to  say,  "  The  main  points  in  the  formulas  of  the 
Book  of  the  Dead  may  be  summed  up  as  follows :  Ac- 
cording to  the  creed  of  the  Egyptians,  the  soul  of  man 
was  divine,  and  therefore  immortal.  It  is  subject  to 
personal  moral  responsibility.  The  consequence  of 
evil  actions  is  banishment  from  God  [in  migration 
through  animal  bodies].  Faith  transfers  venial  sins 
to  the  account  of  the  body,  which  is,  in  consequence, 
doomed  to  annihilation.  Man,  when  justified,  becomes 
conscious  that  he  is  a  son  of  God,  and  destined  to  be- 
hold God  at  the  termination  of  his  wanderings.  "  * 

The  celebrated  Egyptian  scholar,  Lepsius,  adds  his 
testimony.  He  describes  the  Book  of  the  Dead  as 
"  essentially  a  history  of  the  soul  after  death ; "  confirms 
the  reference  of  the  doctrine  of  immortality  by  Hero- 
dotus to  the  Egyptians  ;  adding,  "  It  is  now  sufficiently 
known  from  the  monuments,  that  the  Egyptians  pos- 

*  Id.  vol.  iv.  p.  648.  Bunsen  also  remarks,  "  It  is  only  by  considering 
how  very  deeply  this  sense  of  immortality  was  ingrafted  on  the  Egyptian 
mind,  that  we  can  comprehend  the  passion  for  the  monstrous  and  colossal 
proportions  of  the  Pyramids,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  glorious  emblem- 
atical and  artistic  character  of  those  works  of  the  Old  Empire.  As  animal 
worship  is  merely  the  Egyptianized  African  form  of  an  early  Asiatic  con- 
ception, so  is  also  the  combination  of  the  care  for  the  preservation  of  the 
body,  and,  if  possible,  its  protection  from  destruction,  connected  with  the 
doctrine  of  immortality.  The  soul  was  immortal ;  but  its  happiness,  if  not 
the  possibility  of  its  continuing  to  live,  depended  on  the  preservation  of  the 
body.  The  destruction  of  the  body  consequently  involved  the  destruction 
of  the  soul."  —  Vol.  iv.  p.  657.  The  closing  remark  seems  to  be  offered  as 
conjectural.    No  proof  is  cited. 


BELIEF  OF   THE  EARLIER  JEWS.  147 

sessed,  from  the  earliest  times,  very  distinct  ideas  about 
the  transmigration  of  souls  and  of  judgment  after 
death."  * 

The  records  on  these  monuments  date  back  to  a 
period  earlier  than  the  residence  of  the  Israelites  in 
Egypt.  Certain  side-questions  about  the  exact  nature 
and  history  of  the  doctrine  of  transmigration  have 
been  raised ;  but  the  fundamental  fact  of  a  belief  in 
immortality  is  indisputable.  "  No  one,"  says  a  learned 
writer,  "  has  ever  disputed  the  fact  that  the  ancient 
Egyptians  believed  in  a  future  state  ;  and,  as  appears 
from  the  work  of  Roth  (Die  Egypt),  they  had  this 
belief  even  before  Jacob  and  his  sons  took  up  their  resi- 
dence in  Egypt."  f 

*  Lepsius'  Introduction  to  Egyptian  Chronology  (Bohn's  Antiq.  Library), 
pp.  392,  385. 

t  Rev.  S.  Tuska  in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra  for  October,  1860. 

Prior  to  the  modern  discoveries,  much  confusion  hung  over  this  subject; 
and  differences  of  opinion  still  exist  as  to  some  of  the  details.  But  the  fun- 
damental fact  is  no  longer  an  open  question.  Mr.  Hudson,  however,  by  re- 
ferring to  these  differences  of  detail,  apparently  endeavors  to  leave  the  im- 
pression that  there  is  a  doubt  whether  the  Egyptians  believed  in  the  soul's 
existence  after  death.  —  Future  Life,  p.  268. 

Mr.  Alger,  in  his  History  of  the  Doctrine  of  a  Future  Life  (A.D.  1864), 
very  properly  treats  this  as  a  question  most  perfectly  settled  by  the  three 
sources  of  knowledge  now  accessible;  viz.,  the  papyrus-rolls,  the  ornamental 
cases  of  the  mummies,  and  the  paintings  in  the  tombs.  He  cites  eminent 
modern  authorities  for  the  following  results :  "Souls  at  death  pass  down 
into  Amenti,  and  are  tried.  If  condemned,  they  are  either  sent  back  to 
the  earth,  or  confined  in  the  nether  space  for  punishment.  If  justified,  they 
join  the  blissful  company  of  the  Sun-god,  and  rise  with  him  through  the 
east  to  journey  along  his  celestial  course.  .  .  .  The  condemned  soul  is  either 
scourged  back  to  the  earth  straightway,  to  live  again  in  the  form  of  a  vile 
animal,  as  some  of  the  emblems  appear  to  denote;  or  plunged  into  the 
tortures  of  a  horrid  hell  of  fire  and  devils  below,  as  numerous  engravings 
set  forth;  or  driven  into  the  atmosphere,  to  be  vexed  and  tossed  by  tempests, 
violently  whirled  in  blasts  and  clouds,  till  its  sins  are  expiated,  and  another 
probation  granted  through  a  renewed  existence  in  human  form  "  (p.  103). 


148  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

Now,  the  Israelitish  people  resided  in  Egypt  many 
generations  in  the  midst  of  such  views  publicly  held 
and  conspicuously  promulgated.  To  suppose  them  ig- 
norant of  a  future  state  at  the  exodus  is  preposterous. 
The  unquestionable  records  of  the  Egyptian  monu- 
ments now  for  ever  refute  the  alleged  incredibility  of 
finding  the  knowledge  of  a  future  state  in  the  Hebrew 
documents.  They  make  it  incredible  that  it  should 
not  be  there,  —  incredible  that  the  long  series  of  in- 
spired men,  from  Moses  to  Malachi,  should  have  been 
so  far  below  Egyptian  priests  and  kings  as  never  to 
have  alluded  to  a  great  truth  which  had  been  pub- 
lished to  the  empire  long  before  the  days  of  Moses. 

2.  The  Hebrew  view  of  the  nature  of  the  soul  was  such 
as  to  lay  a  natural  foundation  for  a  belief  in  its  continued 
existence  after  death.  The  human  being  is  specially 
distinguished  from  the  animal  world  in  his  creation  ; 
and  the  soul  is  specially  distinguished  from  the  body, 
and  allied  to  God,  its  creator. 

This  view  of  the  human  soul,  though  not  drawn  out 
in  metaphysical  statements  and  definitions,  lies  upon 
the  face  of  the  sacred  volume  from  the  beginning. 
The  first  chapter  of  Genesis  sets  forth  the  distinction 
between  man  and  the  animals,  and  his  special  alliance 
to  God.  The  Creator  proposes  to  "  make  man  in  our 
image,  after  our  likeness ; "  and  it  is  solemnly  recorded, 
"  So  God  created  man  in  his  own  image."  The  He- 
brew reader  could  not  understand  this  as  referring  to 
any  thing  connected  with  the  body  ;  for  he  was  taught 
(Exod.  xx.  4)  that  God  could  not  be  imaged  forth  in 

Mr.  Alger,  it  should  be  remarked,  does  not  find  the  doctrine  of  eternal  pun- 
ishment taught  in  the  New  Testament. 


BELIEF   OF   THE  EARLIER  JEWS.  149 

a  body.  The  spirit  alone  could  be  made  after  the  like- 
ness of  the  spirit  God.  The  thought  is  confirmed 
i:i  the  following  chapter,  where  man's  special  relation 
to  God  in  his  nature  is  indicated  in  the  fuller  narrative 
of  his  creation.  God  "  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the 
ground ; "  and  as  a  distinct  and  distinguishing  act,  we 
are  told,  he  "  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of 
life,  and  man  became  a  living  soul."  Thus  the  tenant 
of  the  human  body  was  from  the  special  inbreathing 
of  God.  "  Two  elements  are  united  in  man,  —  an 
earthly  and  a  divine ;  which  latter  no  other  creature 
shares  with  him."  * 

The  same  high  view  of  human  nature  is  assumed 
throughout  the  older  Scriptures,  sometimes  with  ap- 
parent allusion  to  this  account  of  man's  nature  and 
origin.  Man  wralked  and  talked  with  God  (Gen.  ii. 
iii.).  He  was  to  be  inviolate  ;  "for  in  the  image  of 
God  made  he  man  "  (Gen.  ix.  6).  "  Thou  hast  made 
him  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,"  or  rather  (in  the 
original),  "  Thou  hast  made  him  lack  little  of  God  " 
(Ps.  viii.  5).  Elihu  exclaims,  "There  is  a  spirit  in 
man  :  and  the  inspiration  of  the  Almighty  giveth  them 
understanding"  (Job  xxxii.  8).  "The  Lord,  which 
.  .  .  formeth  the  spirit  of  man  within  him  "  (Zech. 
xii.  1).  "  Who  knoweth  the  spirit  of  man  that  goeth 
upward,  and  the  spirit  of  the  beast  that  goeth  down- 
ward to  the  earth  ?  "  (Eccles.  iii.  21.) 

In  this  high  doctrine  of  man's  nature,  and  especially 
of  the  peculiar  origin  and  alliance  of  his  soul  as  the 
very  inbreathing  of  the  eternal  God,  was  laid  the  firm 
basis  of  the  almost  inevitable  conclusion  —  the  immor- 

„ i  i  —  .  -  -■■■  .     -■ .  i .— ^ 

*  Hengstenberg  on  Ecclesiastes,  p.  121. 


150  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

talitj  of  the  soul,  and  its  survival  of  the  body's  dis- 
solution. In  one  striking  passage,  the  conclusion  is 
stated  with  the  clearest  reference  to  its  foundation. 
The  best  comment  on  Gen.  ii.  7  is  found  in  Eccles.xii.  7, 
where  the  diverse  destination  of  body  and  soul  at  death 
is  distinctly  stated,  and  with  an  allusion  to  their  dif- 
ferent origin  and  alliance  :  "  Then  shall  the  dust  re- 
turn to  the  earth  as  it  was  ;  and  the  spirit  shall  return 
unto  God  who  gave  it." 

Thus  Elijah  prayed  :  "  0  Lord  my  God,  let  this 
child's  soul  come  into  him  [within,  or  into  the  midst 
of  him]  again.  And  the  Lord  heard  the  voice  of  Eli- 
jah ;  and  the  soul  of  the  child  came  into  [the  midst 
of]  him  again,  and  he  revived  "  (1  Kings  xvii.  21,  22). 
.  It  is  not  pretended  that  the  Hebrews  had  nice  meta- 
physical notions,  or  used  precise  phraseology  to  define 
this  nobler  part  of  human  nature.  It  is  never  so  in 
common  life.  But  it  is  a  fact  beyond  the  reach  of 
cavil,  that  throughout  the  Old  Testament  there  runs 
the  underlying  and  outcropping  distinction  between 
the  earthly,  perishable  frame  of  man,  and  that  higher 
portion  of  his  being,  variously  termed  his  heart,  soul, 
or  spirit,  which'  brought  him  into  alliance  and  com- 
munion with  God.  "  Bless  the  Lord,  0  my  soul;  and 
all  that  is  within  me,  bless  his  holy  name  "  (Ps.  ciii.  1). 
"  With  my  spirit  within  me  will  I  seek  thee  early  "  (Isa. 
xxvi.  9).  Sometimes  it  is  even  termed  the  "  glory  " 
of  his  being,  and  is  distinguished  from  the  body,  which 
is  joined  with  it  to  make  the  whole  man :  "  Therefore 
my  heart  is  glad,  and  my  glory  rejoiceth  ;  my  flesh 
•also  shall  rest  in  hope  "  (Ps.  xvi.  9).  Sometimes  the 
soul  and  body  are  together  put  for  the  whole  being  of 


BELIEF  OF  THE  EARLIER  JEWS.  151 

the  man  :  "  My  soul  thirsteth  for  thee,  my  flesh  longeth 
for  thee  ; "  "  My  soul  shall  be  satisfied  as  with  marrow 
and  fatness,  and  my  mouth  shall  praise  thee "  (Ps. 
lxiii.  1,5).  "  But  his  flesh  upon  him  shall  have  pain, 
and  his  soul  within  him  shall  mourn  "  (Job  xiv.  22). 
Sometimes  over  against  the  frailty  of  the  one  portion  of 
his  being  is  set  the  eternal  joy  of  the  other  in  its  union 
with  God :  "  My  flesh  and  my  heart  faileth  ;  but  God  is 
the  strength  of  my  heart,  and  my  portion  for  ever  "  (Ps. 
Ixxiii.  26).  Quite  often  the  soul,  as  the  nobler  part, 
is  put  summarily  to  designate  the  man  himself :  "  Many 
there  be  which  say  of  my  soul  [myself],  There  is  no 
help  for  him  in  God  "  (Ps.  iii.  2).  "  How  say  ye  to 
my  soul  [to  me],  Flee  as  a  bird  to  your  mountain  " 
(Ps.  xi.  1).  "  Say  unto  my  soul,  I  am  thy  salvation  " 
(Ps.  xxxv.  3).* 
Through  the  entire  Old  Testament  runs  this  distinc- 


*  From  this  designation  of  the  man  by  the  animating  and  interior  portion 
of  his  nature  arose  a  still  further  extension  of  the  term  to  designate  a  human 
being  in  the  most  general  terms:  "  Seventy  souls,"  persons,  irrespective  of 
age  or  sex  (Exod.  i.  5;  xvi.  16;  Gen.  xlvi.  18,  27,  etc.).  It  is  used  of  ser- 
vants :  "  The  souls  they  had  gotten  in  Haran  "  (Gen.  xii.  5);  "  If  a  man  be 
found  stealing  any  of  his  brethren  "  [a  soul  of  his  brethren]  (Deut.  xxiv.  7). 
Of  captives:  "  Give  the  persons,"  literally  souls  (Gen.  xiv.  21).  With  the 
proper  adjective,  it  even  designates  a  dead  man,  but  never  a  dead  animal: 
"  Shall  come  at  no  dead  body,"  literally  dead  soul,  i.e.  person  (Num.  vi.  6). 
The  universal  application  of  a  law  is  indicated  by  the  use  of  the  word 
"  soul  "  for  "  person :  "  "  If  a  soul  touch  any  unclean  thing  "  (Lev.  v.  2).  In 
view  of  this  last  fact,  so  manifest,  one  can  appreciate  the  force  of  the  fol- 
lowing passage  from  a  tract  by  Thomas  B.  Newman,  with  his  own  capitals: 
"What  dies?  The  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die."  The  Scripture,  of 
course,  means  simply  that  the  individual,  whoever  he  may  be,  shall  die. 

It  is  not  denied  that  the  particular  Hebrew  word  "soul"  [^53]  which 
primarily  denotes  the  vitalizing  principle,  and  thence  an  animate  being,  is 
frequently  applied  to  all  living  creatures;  e.g.,  Gen.  i.  24;  ii.  7, 19,  etc. — 
See  the  next  note. 


152  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

tion  between  the  earthly  body  and  the  higher  princi- 
ple, the  animating  spirit  which  brings  the  man  into 
communion  and  union  with  the  ever-living  God,  from 
whom  it  came  ;  and  which  clings  to  him  in  unshaken 
hope  and  deathless  love.  It  forms  the  natural  basis 
for  the  almost  inevitable  doctrine  of  the  continued  ex- 
istence of  that  exalted  portion  of  our  being.* 

3.  Accordingly,  an  existence  beyond  this  life  is  rec- 
ognized on  the  very  threshold  of  the  Bible,  in  the 
translation  of  Enoch  ;  and,  in  the  same  palpable  form, 
is  reiterated  in  the  translation  of  Elijah. 

It  is  recorded  that  "  Enoch  walked  with  God  ;  and 
he  was  not,  for  God  took  him  "  (Gen.  v.  24).  Now,  it 
did  not  require  the  explanation  of  the  writer  to  the 
Hebrews  (Heb.  xi.  5.)  to  unfold  the  meaning  of  this 
statement.  A  good  man  who  walked  with  God  while 
on  earth, — and  the  fact  is  twice  affirmed, — God  there- 
fore takes.  Whither  ?  To  annihilation  ?  To  extinc- 
tion of  all  conscious  joy  ?     Is  that  the  mode  in  which 

*  This  .position,  it  will  be  perceived,  does  not  rest  on  the  nice  or  unva- 
ried usage  of  a  particular  terra  or  terms,  but  upon  the  accompanying  ut- 
terances, the  explanatory  phrases,  and  unmistakable  drift  of  whole  pas- 
sages; not  upon  a  few  such  utterances,  but  upon  a  multitude  of  them, 
constituting  the  entire  strain  of  such  outpourings  as  the  Psalms.  Mean- 
while many  specific  passages  like  those  we  have  quoted  definitely  refer  this 
alliance  and  communion  with  God  to  the  inner  portion  of  our  being,  in  dis- 
tinction from  the  perishable  body. 

It  is  therefore  idle  to  tell  us  of  certain  diverse  uses  of  the  words  "  soul," 
"  spirit,"  "heart "  (iz5p3>  TV\*\>  2b),  to  disprove  the  Hebrew  belief;  as  idle  as 
to  attempt  a  disproof  of  the  modern  belief  in  a  soul  or  spirit,  because  ice  use 
these  words  so  variously  at  times :  e.g.,  the  heart  of  the  subject,  the  heart 
of  the  Andes,  heartless  ;  the  spirit  of  a  poem  or  a  discussion,  the  high 
spirit  of  a  horse,  proof-spirit,  etc. ;  every  soul  on  board  perished,  a  soul- 
less wretcfi. 


BELIEF  OF   THE  EARLIER  JEWS.  153 

God  shows  his  love  for  a  good  man  ?  The  thought  is 
ridiculous.  He  took  him  to  himself,  to  heaven  ;  to  he 
with  him  on  high  with  whom  he  walked  below.  No 
man  could  miss  the  meaning.*  And  the  sacred  writer 
explains  (Heb.  xi.  5)  :  "  He  was  translated,  that  he 
should  not  see  death."  This  narrative,  occurring  al- 
most at  the  beginning  of  the  sacred  history,  is  very  strik- 
ing and  weighty.  It  gives  a  key-note  to  the  whole 
strain  of  the  Scriptures. 

Once  again,  long  afterwards,  the  eyes  of  the  whole 
nation  were  directed  to  that  home  of  the  holy  by  the 
ascension  of  the  grandest  of  tne  Israelitish  prophets  to 
the  presence  of  God.  Elijah,  in  the  repeated  phrase 
of  Scripture,  "  was  taken  up  by  a  whirlwind  into 
heaven,"  in  a  chariot  of  fire  (2  Kings  ii.  1,  11).  It 
needed  not  his  re-appearance  on  the  Mount  of  Trans- 
figuration to  intimate,  that,  though  absent  from  earth, 
he  was  present  with  God.  Malachi  foretold  his  return 
(iv.  5)  ;  and  there  is  the  most  ample  evidence,  both  in 
the  Gospels  and  the  Talmud,  that  the  whole  nation 
looked  for  his  coming. 

4.  The  patriarchs,  who  died  by  natural  deaths,  are 
described  as  having  gone  to  join  the  company  of  their 
ancestors  beyond  this  life. 

It  will  not  be  forgotten  how  Christ  silenced  the  Sad- 
ducees,  in  their  denial  of  immortality,  by  that  phrase 
from  the  Old  Testament,  "  I  am  the  God  of  Abraham, 
of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob  ;  "  adding,  that  "  God  is  not  a 
God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living  "  (Luke  xx.  38). 

*  Such  was  the  interpretation,  for  example,  of  Ecclesiasticus.  xliv.  14  j 
xlix.  14;  and  of  Josephus,  Antiq.  1,  3,  4. 


154  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

The  statement,  he  would  say,  made  by  God  long  after 
the  death  of  the  patriarchs,  proved  that  they  were 
not  extinct ;  for  God  does  not  stand  in  such  relations 
to  extinct  beings.     Though  dead,  they  live. 

Other  passages  very  distinctly  intimate  the  continued 
existence  of  these  patriarchs.  We  refer  to  those  pas- 
sages where  each  of  them  is  said  to  be  "  gathered  to 
his  people,"  or  "  gathered  to  his  fathers."  This  is  the 
phrase  employed  concerning  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob, 
Moses,  and  Aaron  (Gen.  xxv.  8  ;  xxxv.  29  ;  xlix.  29  ; 
Dent,  xxxii.  50).  To  Abraham  also  there  was  given 
the  previous  assurance,  :'  Thou  shalt  go  to  thy  fathers 
in  peace  "  (Gen.  xv.  15). 

Now,  this  phrase  does  not  mean  simply  to  die,  or  to 
be  buried,  or  to  be  buried  in  a  family  tomb ;  for  three 
reasons,  the  third  of  which  is  absolutely  decisive.  (1) 
Death  and  burial  are  both  mentioned  in  the  same  con- 
nections, as  facts  distinct  from  this  :  "  Thus  Abraham 
gave  up  the  ghost  and  died,  an  old  man  and  full  of 
years,  and  was  gathered  to  his  people ;  and  his  sons 
Isaac  and  Ishmael  buried  him "  (Gen.  xxv.  8,  9). 
Here  the  joining  his  people  is  mentioned  as  though  the 
sequel  of  death,  and  as  entirely  distinct  from  his  bu- 
rial. Sarah,  indeed,  was  the  only  occupant  of  the  tomb 
in  which  he  was  buried.  Precisely  the  same  statement 
is  made  of  Isaac  (Gen.  xxxv.  29).  So  Jacob  "charged 
them,  and  said  unto  them,  I  am  to  be  gathered 
unto'  my  people:  bury  me  with  my  fathers  in  the 
cave  that  is  in  the  field  of  Ephron  the  Hittite  "  (Gen. 
xlix.  29).  Here  the  being  gathered  to  his  people  is 
the  event  over  which  he  had  no  control ;  but  the  burial 
is  the  subject  of  direction.     Moses  was  commanded 


BELIEF  OF   THE   EARLIER  JEWS.  155 

(Deut.  xxxii.  50)  to  "  die  in  the  mount  whither  thou 
goest  up,  and  be  gathered  unto  thy  people;  as  Aaron  thy 
brother  died  in  Mount  Hor,  and  was  gathered  unto  his 
people."  Here,  again,  death  and  the  being  gathered 
to  his  people  are  distinguished  ;  while  burial  in  a  fami- 
ly tomb  is  out  of  the  question,  since  neither  Moses  nor 
Aaron  was  buried  with  their  ancestors.  The  phrase 
in  question  is  almost  invariably  preceded  by  the  addi- 
tional statement,  "  died."  (2)  The  distinction  be- 
tween burial  in  one  common  tomb,  and  "  being  gathered 
to  one's  people,"  is  also  made  prominent  by  the  sepa- 
ration of  the  two  events  by  a  considerable  interval  of 
time.  Jacob  "  yielded  up  the  ghost,  and  was  gathered 
unto  his  people  "  (Gen.  xlix.  33)  ;  but  it  was  only  after 
embalming  and  seventy  days  of  mourning,  and  a  journey 
to  Canaan,  that  we  are  told  his  sons  "  buried  him  in  the 
cave  of  the  field  of  Machpelah  "  (Gen.  1.  13).  (3)  It 
is  a  decisive  fact,  that  the  phrase  is  employed  concern- 
ing those  who  were  not  deposited  in  the  tombs  of  their 
ancestors.  Abraham  was  buried  beside  his  wife  only. 
Moses  (and  apparently  Aaron)  was  buried  in  an  un- 
known and  solitary  place.  So  also  David,  Omri,  and 
Manasseh,  each  "slept  with  his  fathers;"  although 
David  was  buried  in  the  city  of  David,  Omri  in  Sama- 
ria, and  Manasseh  "  in  the  garden  of  his  own  house,  in 
the  garden  of  Uzza  "  (1  Kings  ii.  10  ;  xvi.  28  ;  2  Kings 
xxi.  18). 

There  is,  therefore,  conclusive  reason-  for  under- 
standing the  phrase  "  gathered  to  his  fathers  "  in  its 
unperverted  meaning  of  joining  them  in  the  other 
world.     Such  is  the  clear  decision  of  the  best  modern 


156  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

commentators  of  various  schools,  —  Baumgarten,  Ger- 
lach,  Knobel,  Delitzsch.* 

It  is  with  this  thought  that  David  comforts  himself 
concerning  his  dead  child  (2  Sam.  xii.  23)  :  >4 1  shall 
go  to  him  ;  but  he  shall  not  return  to  me."  The  pa- 
triarch Jacob  apparently  expressed  the  expectation  of 
joining  his  lost  son  Joseph,  at  the  time  when  he  sup- 
posed his  body  to  have  been  irrecoverably  devoured  by 
wild  beasts :  "  For  I  will  go  down  into  the  grave 
(skeol)  unto  my  son,  mourning"  (Gen.  xxxvii.  35). 

To  the  same  purport  the  record  of  Elijah's  miracle. 
The  prophet  prayed,  "  0  Lord,  my  God,  I  pray  thee 
let  this  child's  soul  come  into  him  again  ;  .  .  .  and  the 
soul  of  the  child  came  into  him  again,  and  he  revived  " 
(1  Kings,  xvii.  21,  22)  :  an  apparent  recognition  of 
the  separate  existence  of  the  departed  soul. 

5.  We  may  not  properly  omit  to  mention  that  this 
view  is  strongly  re-enforced  by  the  repeated  designation 

*  Says  Gerlach,  on  Gen.  xv.  15,  "  Thou  shalt  go  to  thy  fathers,  or  thy 
people,  in  peace,  is  the  gracious  expression  for  a  life  after  death."  Says 
Baumgarten,  "  A  continuance  after  death  is  assuredly  expressed  therein." 
Knobel  remarks  more  at  length,  on  Gen.  xxv.  8,  "  Abraham  was  gathered 
to  his  fathers,  i.e.  was  associated  with  his  ancestors  in  sheol  [the  under- 
world]. The  phrases  '  to  go  to  his  fathers,'  '  to  be  gathered  to  his  fathers,' 
and  the  very  common  one  'to  sleep  with  his  fathers,'  all  have  the  same 
meaning.  They  signify  neither  to  die  merely,  since  3>13  and  ffift  are  com- 
monly connected  with  them ;  nor  to  he  buried  in  a  family  tomb  with  one's 
ancestors,  since  the  interment  often  is  also  expressed  at  the  same  time  by 
*"OD,  and  since  the  terms  are  applied  also  to  those  who  were  not  buried 

"  T 

with  their  fathers,  but  elsewhere,  like  Moses,  David,  Omri,  Manasseh,  as 
well  as  of  those  in  whose  place  of  burial  not  more  than  one  of  their  fathers 
lay,  e.g.  Solomon,  Ahab."  Delitzsch  takes  the  same  ground  on  Gen.  xxv. 
8:  "  That  Abraham  was  buried  is  first  stated  further  on;  the  union  with 
his  relatives  who  had  gone  before  thus  takes  place  first,  not  at  his  inter- 
ment, but  already  in  the  moment  of  death.  .  .  .  The  union  with  the  fathers 
is  not  a  mere  union  of  corpses,  but  of  persons." 


BELIEF   OF   THE  EARLIER  JEWS.  157 

of  the  whole  present  life,  however  protracted,  as  a  pil- 
grimage. "  The  days  of  the  years  of  my  pilgrimage 
are  a  hundred  and  thirty  years,  few  and  evil  have  the 
days  of  the  years  of  my  life  been,  and  have  not  attained 
unto  the  days  of  the  years  of  the  life  of  my  fathers  in 
the  days  of  their  pilgrimage"  (Gen.  xlvii.  9) ;  "I  am  a 
stranger  with  thee,  and  a  sojourner,  as  all  my  fathers 
were  "  (Ps.  xxxix.  12).  The  writer  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  certainly  puts  this  construction  on  these 
utterances  ;  for  he  says  that  the  patriarchs  "  confessed 
that  they  were  strangers  and  pilgrims  on  the  earth ; 
for  they  that  say  such  things  declare  plainly  that  they 
seek  a  country,  —  a  better  country ;  that  is,  an  hea- 
venly "  (Heb.  xi.  13,  14,  16). 

6.  Another,  and  a  decisive  indication,  amounting  to 
a  positive  proof  of  a  belief  in  the  continued  existence 
of  the  departed,  is  found  in  the  practice  of  magical  in- 
vocations of  the  dead,  —  a  practice  which,  among  other 
species  of  witchcraft,  Moses  was  obliged  to  prohibit 
by  law.  In  Dent,  xviii.  10, 11,  he  commands,  "  There 
shall  not  be  found  among  you  any  one  that  maketh  his 
son  or  daughter  to  pass  through  the  fire,  or  that  useth 
divination,  or  an  observer  of  times,  or  an  enchanter, 
or  a  witch,  or  a  charmer,  or  a  consulter  with  familiar 
spirits,  or  a  wizard,  or  a  necromancer"  literally  a  con- 
sulter of  the  dead. 

The  clear  comment  on  this  law,  and  conclusive 
proof  of  the  strong  hold  of  the  belief  and  practice  upon 
the  nation,  is  found  in  the  interview  of  Saul  with  the 
Witch  of  Endor  (1  Sam.  xxviii.  7-20).  Saul  went 
with  the  demand,  "  Bring  me  him  up  whom  I  shall 
name  unto  thee."     The  woman's  reply  shows  that  this 


158  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

was  a  common  pretension  of  the  whole  class  of  wizards  : 
"  Behold,  thou  knowest  what  Saul  hath  done,  how  he 
hath  cut  off  those  that  have  familiar  spirits,  and  the 
wizards,  out  of  the  land  ;  wherefore  then  layest  thou  a 
snare  for  my  life  to  cause  me  to  die?  "  When  Saul 
had  re-assured  her,  she  inquires  in  the  most  sweeping 
way,  "  Whom  shall  I  bring  up  unto  thee  ?  "  He  calls 
for  Samuel.     The  sequel  need  not  be  related. 

Now,  no  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  actual  nature 
of  the  subsequent  transactions  can  disguise  that  there 
was  a  class  of  persons  in  Israel  who  pretended  to  sum- 
mon the  dead  into  communication  with  the  living,  and 
that,  while  the  belief  in  their  power  to  do  it  was  so  ex- 
tended as  to  require  a  special  exertion  of  the  mon- 
arch's authority  to  banish  them  from  the  kingdom, 
it  was  also  so  deep-seated,  that  even  that  monarch  him- 
self was  the  victim  of  the  delusion.  And,  furthermore, 
this  prevalent  belief  in  the  ability  to  bring  up  the  dead 
must  have  rested  on  an  equally  prevalent  belief  that 
the  dead  were  still  in  being. 

7.  But  there  are  found  also  in  the  earlier  times  clear 
indications  of  the  nature  of  that  future ;  allusions  to 
it  as  a  state  of  retribution.  It  is  the  scene  of  joy  and 
recompense  to  the  righteous,  and  of  vengeance  to  the 
wicked.  Sometimes  these  respective  future  prospects 
are  contrasted  with  each  other,  sometimes  they  are  in- 
dicated separately. 

How  plainly  does  the  writer  of  the  sixteenth  Psalm 
declare  his  confidence  that  God,  who  is  his  trust,  will 
rescue  him  from  the  grave,  and  receive  him  to  eternal 
joy  in  his  presence  !  The  first  part  of  the  Psalm  (ver. 
1-7)  expresses  his  confidence  and  his  delight  in  God, 


BELIEF  OF   THE  EARLIER  JEWS.  159 

and  the  intimacy  and  firmness  of  his  adhesion  to  him. 
With  God  at  his  right  hand  (ver.  8),  nothing  shall  dis- 
turb his  tranquillity.  Not  only  shall  his  spirit  be  glad 
(ver.  9),  but  his  "  flesh  also  "  —  his  body  or  person  — 
" shall  rest  in  hope "  of  future  deliverance.  "For  thou 
will  not  leave  my  soul  in  hell  [hades,  sheol]  ;  neither 
wilt  thou  suffer  thine  Holy  One  to  see  corruption. 
Thou  wilt  show  me  the  path  of  life  [the  way  to  life, 
to  God's  presence].  In  thy  presence  is  fullness  of  joy ; 
at  thy  right  hand,  there  are  pleasures  for  evermore  " 
(ver.  10,  11).  Here  is  the  plainest  hope  of  a  life  of 
pleasure  for  evermore  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  after 
deliverance  from  the  grave.  The  Messianic  bearing 
of  the  Psalm  makes  no  difference  in  regard  to  the  doc- 
trine of  a  future  life,  uttered  primarily  in  the  person 
of  David. 

The  seventeenth  Psalm  contrasts  the  bright  future 
hopes  of  the  Psalmist  with  the  earthly  transient  enjoy- 
ments of  the  men  of  this  world.  The  Psalmist,  with 
strong  confidence  in  his  integrity  of  purpose  (ver.  1-4), 
appeals  to  God  for  defense  from  his  deadly  foes  (ver. 
5-9).  He  describes  their  pride  and  ferocity  (ver.  10- 
12),  and,  in  connection  with  a  fresh  petition  for  deliv- 
erance (ver.  13),  he  reminds  himself  of  the  evanescence 
of  their  many  sensual  joys  (ver.  14)  :  "  Men  of  the 
world,  which  have  their  portion  in  this  life,  and  whose 
belly  thou  fillest  with  thy  hid  treasure :  they  are  full  of 
children,  and  leave  the  rest  of  their  substance  to  their 
babes."  Immediately  (ver.  15)  he  breaks  out  exulting  : 
"  As  for  me,  I  will  behold  thy  face  in  righteousness ;  I 
shall  be  satisfied,  when  I  awake,  with  thy  likeness. " 
Now,  when  we  consider  that  to  which  this  hope  stands 


160  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

contrasted, — the  portion  of  the  men  of  the  world  in  this 
life,  as  well  as  the  Psalmist's  own  sufferings,  inflicted 
by  them  in  their  hostility ;  and  when  we  look  at  the 
phraseology  of  his  hope, —  the  beholding  of  God's  face 
in  righteousness,  the  awaking,  the  satisfaction  with 
God's  likeness,  —  it  is  not  easy  to  dissent  from  the 
statement  of  Rosenmuller,  that  "  these  things  can 
hardly  be  understood  otherwise  than  concerning  the 
hope  which  the  prophet  entertained  of  a  blessed  vision 
of  God  in  the  future  life,  when  he  should  have  awaked 
from  the  sleep  of  death."  Indeed  the  brilliant  but 
skeptical  scholar,  De  Wette,  even  maintained  that  Da- 
vid could  not  be  the  author  of  the  Psalm,  because  it 
clearly  expresses  the  hope  of  immortality.  Tholuck 
says  well :  "  Wondrously  enlightened  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  he  [David]  speaks  with  a  clearness  which 
seems  possible  to  Christian  minds  only,  of  the  glories 
of  heaven,  where  the  struggle  with  sin  shall  be  changed 
into  perfect  righteousness,  faith  into  face-to-face  vision, 
satiation  with  the  divided  goods  of  this  life  into  satia- 
tion with  the  one  perfect  good,  which  renders  every 
thing  besides  unnecessary."  * 

Psalm  seventy-third  describes  in  full  the  writer's  per- 
plexity, distress,  and  danger,  as  he  viewed  the  grand 
enigma  of  Providence  in  the  sufferings  of  the  godly  and 


*  Hengstenberg  does  not  receive  this  exposition;  but  his  objections  are 
singular  enough.  They  are  solely  that,  "  according  to  it,  not  merely  would 
there  be  expressed  here  a  knowledge  of  eternal  life,  more  clear  and  confi- 
dent than  we  could  almost  expect  to  find  in  a  psalm  of  David,  but  specially 
that  the  Psalmist  would  declare  his  entire  resignation  in  regard  to  earthly 
things,  which,  in  that  case,  he  wholly  abandons  to  the  wicked,  and  directs 
all  his  hope  to  the  heavenly."  Therefore  he  can  not  suffer  hin  to  express 
so  clear  a  knowledge  or  so  entire  a  resignation. 


BELIEF  OF   THE   EARLIER  JEWS.  1G1 

the  undisturbed  prosperity  of  the  heaven-defying  wick- 
ed, and  the  solution  of  that  enigma  in  which  his  soul 
found  peace  in  the  assurance  that  the  relative  posi- 
tion of  the  parties  shall  be  speedily  reversed  at  death 
by  the  mighty  and  righteous  Governor  of  the  world. 
In  the  earlier  part  of  the  Psalm,  he  describes  the  occa- 
sion of  his  repining:  "The  prosperity  of  the  wicked," 
often  up  to  the  very  hour  of  their  death  (ver.  4.),  their 
exemption  from  suffering,  and  their  accumulation  of 
riches  and  pleasures  in  the  fullest  degree  through 
their  whole  life,  while  they  defy  both  God  and  man 
(ver.  6-12).  The  contrasted  sight  of  his  own  suffering 
lot  had  bred  in  him  deep  gloom  (ver.  13-16),  till  he 
went  to  the  sanctuary,  and  understood  their  end  (ver. 
17),  which  will  be  an  instantaneous  waking  from  an 
empty  dream  to  a  fearful  reality  of  "  destruction," 
"  desolation,"  and  "terrors"  (ver.  18-20).  After  an 
expression  of  amazement  at  his  own  former  stupidity, 
the  writer  exults  in  the  consciousness  of  God's  contin- 
ual support ;  breaks  out  in  the  joyful  assurance, 
"  Thou  shalt  guide  me  with  thy  counsel,  and  after- 
ward receive  me  to  glory;"  declares  God  to  be  his  su- 
preme portion  in  heaven  and  earth  (ver.  25)  ;  and 
asserts  that,  even  though  or  when  "flesh  and  heart  fail- 
eth,  God  is  the  strength  of  my  heart,  and  my  portion 
for  ever."  In  this  passage,  the  obvious  meaning  of  the 
language  is  sustained  by  the  whole  scope  of  the  Psalm. 
TJie  source  of  the  writer's  distress  was  the  unbroken 
prosperity  of  the  impious  wicked  up  to  the  very  hour 
of  death*  (ver.  4-17),  as  compared  with  the  daily 

*  To  avoid  this,  Ewald  and  J.  Olshausen  find  it  necessary  to  change 
the  Hebrew  text  of  verse  4,  —  conjecturally. 
11 


162  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

chastisements  of  the  righteous.  At  the  "end"  only 
does  the  difference  appear.  The  destruction,  desola- 
tion, and  terror  of  the  wicked  must  be  even  subsequent 
to  their  dissolution ;  for  there  are  "  no  bands  in  their 
death:  but  their  strength  is  firm."  The  "dream"  is 
dispelled  "  in  a  moment."  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Psalmist  is  consoled  under  his  daily  chastisements 
with  the  assurance  that  the  God  who  has  hitherto  held 
him  by  the  hand  will  guide  him  by  his  counsel  here, 
and  "  afterward  receive  him  to  glory ; "  *!  and  that 
He  who,  of  all  objects  in  heaven  and  earth,  is  his  chief 
good,  will  be  his  strength  and  portion  when  heart  and 
flesh  fail ;  yea,  "  to  eternity."  The  judicious  Alexan- 
der well  remarks,  that  the  reference  to  a  future  state 
in  verses  16-19,  24,  is  "  evident,  if  interpreted  in  any 
natural  and  reasonable  manner." 

The  forty-ninth  Psalm,  though  more  obscure  in  meth- 
od and  expression,  is  a  development  of  the  same  funda- 
mental theme.  It  is  intended  to  vindicate  the  govern- 
ment of  God,  and,  in  the  words  of  Alexander,  "  to 
console  the  righteous  under  the  trials  arising  from  the 
prosperity  and  enmity  of  wicked  men  by  showing  these 
to  be  but  temporary,  and  by  the  prospect  of  a  speedy 
change  in  the  relative  position  of  the  parties."  In 
like  manner,  Tholuck  describes  it  as  "  a  didactic  psalm 
concerning  the  uncertain  prosperity  of  the  proud  and 
rich,  their  certain  death,  the  victory  of  the  godly,  and 
their  final  reception  with  God."  The  writer  solemnly 
calls  the  attention  of  the  whole  world  to  his  solution 
of  the  great  problem  (verses  1-5).     He  points  to  the 

*  It  makes  no  material  difference  if  we  adopt  De  Wette's  translation, 
—  and  "  afterward  with  honor  receive  me." 


BELIEF   OF   THE  EARLIER  JEWS.  163 

iniquity  of  his  pursuers  (not  "heels")  as  they  com- 
pass him  about,  boasting  in  their  riches,  and  while 
powerless  to  redeem  themselves  from  death  with  all 
their  wealth  (verses  7-9),  yet  regardless  of  the  com- 
mon lot  that  awaits*alike  the  wise  man  and  the  fool 
(verse  11),  and  dreaming  of  perpetual  prosperity 
(verse  12).  But  there  comes  an  hour  when  "  the 
righteous  shall  have  dominion  [shall  triumph]  over 
them,"  and  that  time  is  the  hour  of  death.  How  so  ? 
for  the  Psalmist  had  already  admitted  (verse  10)  the 
transparent  fact,  that  the  righteous,  too,  must  die. 
Wherein,  then,  is  the  triumph  ?  It  is  that  ^  God  will 
redeem  my  soul  from  the  power  of  the  grave ;  for  he 
will  receive  me  "  (verse  15) ;  while  all  the  good  things 
of  the  wicked  pass  away  at  death :  "  When  he  dieth  he 
shall  carry  nothing  away ;  his  glory  shall  not  descend 
after  him,  though  while  he  lived  he  blessed  his  soul  " 
(verses  16,  17).  It  is  precisely  the  case  of  the  rich 
fool  of  the  New  Testament,  not  so  fully  carried  out. 
And  so  manifestly  is  this  obvious  interpretation  of  the 
language  indispensable  to  even  a  tolerable  fulfillment 
of  the  opening  promise  of  the  psalm,  that  a  late  Ger- 
man (rationalist)  commentator  (J.  Olshausen),  who 
denies  the  reference  to  the  future,  makes  this  fatal 
admission  :  "  Though  the  poet  in  the  introduction  pro- 
ceeds with  no  little  self-confidence,  yet  does  his  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  which  he  treats  turn  out  to  be 
very  unsatisfactory.  Surrounded  by  the  baseness  of 
enemies,  insidious  and  wholly  reliant  upon  their  worldly 
resources,  he  looks  around  for  consolation,  and  without 
difficulty  finds  it,  —  sorry  enough,  however,  —  chiefly 
in  the  thought,  that  even  his  luxury  can  not  rescue  the 


1G4  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

rich  man  from  death,  and  he  must  leave  it  all  behind ; 
while  altogether  short-lived  and  even  trivial  (beilt'iujig) 
is  the  defense  and  deliverance  from  death  which  in  his 
conception  the  righteous  may  hope  from  God." 

Sorry  indeed,  if  that  were  all  \  The  naked  state- 
ment of  such  an  exposition  is  a  sufficient  refutation. 
Strange  that  men  should  deem  it  needful  to  put  a  re- 
straint on  the  obvious  meaning  of  language  in  order 
to  educe  such  inanity  ;  and  passing  strange  that  the 
sweet  singer  of  Israel  can  not  be  suffered  to  make  the 
least  allusion  to  a  future  world,  when  even  the  cat- 
worshiping  Egyptian  had  recorded  his  convictions  of  a 
judgment  to  come,  a  thousand  years  before  ! 

A  very  distinct  assertion  of  the  future  retribution  is 
found  in  Eccles.  xii.  13,  14  :  "  Let  us  hear  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  whole  matter :  Fear  God,  and  keep  his  com- 
mandments ;  for  this  is  the  whole  duty  of  man.  For 
God  shall  bring  every  work  into  judgment,  with  every 
secret  thing,  whether  it  be  good, or  whether  it  be  evil." 
That  the  judgment  here  spoken  of  is  a  future  one,  as 
Hengstenberg  well  remarks,  is  clear  from  verse  7  of 
the  same  chapter,  where  the  writer ■  speaks  of  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  spirit,  separated  from  the  body,  before 
God,  to  receive  the  recompense  for  its  works. 

Still  more  distinct,  if  possible,  is  the  utterance  of 
Dan.  xii.  2,  3  :  "  And  many  of  them  [i.e.,  the  many, 
the  multitude  ;  see  Rom.  v.  15,  19]  that  sleep  in  the 
dust  of  the  earth  shall  awake,  some  to  everlasting  life, 
and  some  to  shame  and  everlasting  contempt.  And 
they  that  be  wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the 
firmament ;  and  they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness, 
as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever." 


BELIEF   OF   THE   EARLIER  JEWS.  1G5 

This  passage  is  from  the  closing  declarations  of  Dan- 
iel's prophecy.  He  who  had  depicted  so  fully  and  repeat- 
edly the  rise  and  fall  of  the  great  earthly  monarchies, 
and  the  triumph  of  the  kingdom  which  the  God  of 
heaven  should  set  up,  and  who  just  before  the  present 
passage  minutely  specifies  the  conflicts  that  should  rage 
around  the  seat  of  that  kingdom,  now,  in  accordance 
with  prophetic  custom,  flashes  one  clear  glance  down 
to  the  end  and  issue  of  the  whole  struggle  on  earth. 
Then  the  message  is  to  be  sealed  up  (verse  4)  "  to 
the  time  of  the  end  ;  "  and  the  prophet  himself  is  di- 
rected (verse  13),  "  Go  thy  way  till  the  end  be;  for  thou 
shalt  rest,  and  shalt  stand  in  thy  lot  at  the  end  of  the 
days."  The  collocation  of  the  passage  thus  strongly 
justifies  the  obvious  interpretation  ;  while  the  lan- 
guage itself,  in  its  details,  will  hardly  admit  any  other. 
It  has  indeed  been  questioned  whether  the  verse  next 
preceding  refers  to  the  ultimate  "  time  of  trouble  "  at 
Christ's  coming,  or  to  a  nearer  series  of  terrific  trials 
in  the  time  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes.  But  Professor 
Stuart,  who  takes  the  latter  view,  is  perfectly  decided 
that  the  passage  in  question  "  opens  the  prospect  of 
the  future  and  final  destiny  of  men,  the  righteous  and 
the  wicked,  and  shows  us  the  final  result  of  the  Messi- 
anic period."  * 

These  are  some  of  the  passages  in  the  Old  Testament 
which  more  specifically  refer  to  the  future  state  of  re- 
wards and  punishments. t    But  it  would  be  doing  great 

*  For  a  fuller  vindication  of  this  view,  see  Stuart's  Commentary  on  Dan- 
iel on  this  passage. 

t  Such  passages  have  been  selected  as  were  easily  apprehensible  by  or- 
dinary readers.  Passages  like  Job  xix.  25-27  have  been  intentionally  omit- 
ted, because  less  available  in  a  popular  discussion. 


166  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

injustice  to  the  older  portion  of  the  sacred  volume 
were  we  to  intimate  that  these  comprise  the  main  por- 
tion of  such  allusions.  The  doctrine  here  distinctly 
stated  seems  to  underlie  a  multitude  of  promises  and 
threats,  as  an  implication  without  which  they  are 
empty.  Such  passages  as  the  whole  thirty-seventh 
Psalm;  Ps.  i.  3-6  ;  Prov.  x.  28,'  30  ;  xi.  7, 19,  21, 
23 ;  xh.  3,  21,  28  ;  xiv.  32  ;  xv.  24  ;  and  the  like,  — 
consider  what  they  amount  to,  except  as  they  involve 
such  a  reference.  Without  it,  what  does  it  mean  to 
say,  "  As  righteousness  tendeth  to  life,  so  he  that  pur- 
sueth  evil  pursue th  it  to  his  own  death  ;  "  "  In  the  way 
of  righteousness  is  life,  and  in  the  pathway  thereof  is 
no  death?"  Unless  these  threats  and  promises  reach 
forth  into  another  world,  all  these  high-sounding  words, 
and  others  like  them,  mean  only  this,  —  that  a  wicked 
man  shall  have  a  little  earlier  decease  than  a  good 
man  ;  a  threat  not  always  fulfilled. 

The  case  seems  to  us  one  of  remarkable  strength. 
We  start  with  the  now  settled  fact,  in  itself  of  great 
weight,  that  the  nation  among  whom  the  Israelites 
resided  four  hundred  years  had  for  many  hundred 
years  previous  held  and  publicly  recorded  the  doctrine 
of  an  existence  and  retribution  after  death.  We  find 
the  Hebrew  doctrine  concerning  the  origin  and  char- 
acter of  the  soul  laying  the  proper  basis  for  a  belief  in 
its  continued  existence  when  the  body  dies.  We  find 
the  record,  in  both  the  antediluvian  and  the  Mosaic  ages, 
of  good  men,  by  reason  of  that  goodness,  taken  directly 
from  this  world  to  dwell  with  God.  We  find  this  whole 
present  life  designated  as  a  pilgrimage.  We  find  the 
successive  deaths  of  patriarchs,  prophets,  priests,  and 


BELIEF   OF    THE   EARLIER  JEWS.  167 

kings,  even  when  they  were  laid  in  unknown  or  soli- 
tary graves,  described  as  being  gathered  to  their  fa- 
thers. We  find  the  practice  of  conjuring  by  pretended 
communication  with  dead  persons,  familiar  spirits,  to 
have  gained  such  a  hold  on  the  general  belief,  that  the 
law  of  Moses  specially  prohibited  the  offense  ;  and  even 
the  first  monarch  of  the  nation,  in  his  time  of  exigency, 
resorted  to  the  practice.  And,  finally,  we  meet  with 
not  a  few  passages  which  of  set  purpose  present  the 
doctrine  of  a  judgment  and  twofold  retribution  after 
death,  so  distinctly,  that  they  can  be  set  aside  only  by  a 
denial  both  of  the  obvious  meaning  of  the  language, 
and  the  obvious  scope  of  the  argument. 


CHAPTER    II. 

BELIEF  OF  A   FUTURE  EXISTENCE  AMONG  THE  JEWS  IN 

THE    TIME  OF  CHRIST. 

WHEN  our  Saviour  and  his  apostles  began  their 
mission,  they  addressed  themselves  first  to  the 
Jewish  nation.  Their  teachings  were  professedly  but 
the  fuller  development  of  "  the  law  and  the  prophets." 
Moreover,  their  utterances  on  the  subject  of  a  future 
destiny,  unless  specially  guarded  by  them  to  the  con- 
trary, must,  of  course,  be  understood  in  the  light  of  the 
known  and  acknowledged  views  of  the  nation. 

Now,  even  if  there  were  anv  reasonable  doubt  what 
were  the  notions  of  the  earlier  Jews  upon  this  subject, 
no  such  doubt  hangs  over  the  views  that  prevailed  in 
the  time  of  Christ.  It  is  susceptible  of  decisive  proof 
that  the  prevalent  belief  of  the  people  at  that  time  rec- 
ognized a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punishments. 
This  proof  is  found  more  full  and  minute  in  profane 
writers,  as  they  are  called,  but  briefly  and  conclusively 
confirmed  in  the  New  Testament. 

The  fullest  and  most  competent  secular  witness  is 
the  celebrated  historian  Josephus.  He  was  a  native 
Jew,  belonged  to  the  order  of  the  priesthood,  and  not 
only  was  a  man  of  learning,  but  had  been  specially  ini- 
tiated into  the  ways   of  each  of  the  three  sects  into 

168 


JEWISH  BELIEF  IN   THE    TIME   OF  CHRIST.  169 

which  the  Jewish  nation  was  divided.  For  a  long  time 
he  governed  Galilee,  afterwards  commanded  the  Jew- 
ish army,  and,  upon  the  conquest  and  destruction  of 
Jerusalem,  went  with  Titus  to  Rome,  where  he  wrote 
the  History  and  Antiquities  of  his  nation.  No  man 
could  be  more  competent  as  a  witness. 

Now,  Josephus  informs  us  in  many  passages  that  the 
Jewish  people  were  divided  into  three  sects,  the  Phar- 
isees, the  Sadducees,  and  the  Essenes.  Of  the  Pharisees 
he  informs  us  (Antiq.  book  xviii.  chap.  i.  sect.  3), 
"  They  also  believed  that  souls  have  an  immortal  vigor 
in  them,  and  that  under  the  earth  there  will  be  rewards 
or  punishments  according  as  they  have  lived  virtuously 
or  viciously  in  this  life ;  and  the  latter  are  to  be  de- 
tained in  an  everlasting  prison,  but  the  former  shall 
have  power  to  revive  and  live  again  :  on  account  of 
which  doctrines,  they  are  able  to  persuade  the  great 
body  of  the  people."  Again  (Wars  of  the  Jews,  ii. 
§  14)  :  "  They  [the  Pharisees]  say  that  all  souls  are 
indestructible  ;  that  the  souls  of  good  men  alone  are 
removed  into  other  bodies ;  but  that  the  souls  of  bad 
men  are  subject  to  eternal  punishment."  * 

Concerning  a  second  of  these  Jewish  sects,  the  Es- 
senes,we  are  told  by  Josephus  (Antiq.,  xviii.  5),  "  They 
teach  the  immortality  of  souls,  and  esteem  that  the 
rewards  of  righteousness  are  to  be  earnestly  striven 
for."     Again  (Wars,  ii.  8,  11)  :  "  For  their  doctrine  is 

*  It  is  commonly  understood  that  the  removal  "  into  other  bodies  " 
(strictly  another  body),  here  ascribed  to  the  souls  of  the  righteous,  simply 
designates  the  new  or  spiritual  body.  Any  question  which  may  be  raised 
on  this  point  does  not  in  the  slightest  degree  affect  the  positiveness  of  Jose- 
phus's  testimony  to  the  doctrine  of  immortality  and  future  eternal  rewards 
and  punishments. 


170  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

this :  That  bodies  are  corruptible,  and  that  the  matter 
they  are  made  of  is  not  permanent,  but  that  the  souls  are 
immortal ,  and  continue  for  ever ;  and  that  they  come  out 
of  the  most  subtile  air,  and  are  united  to  their  bodies 
as  in  prisons,  into  which  they  are  drawn   by  a  certain 
natural  enticement ;  but  that,  when  set  free  from  the 
bonds  of  the  flesh,  they  then,  as  released  from  a  long 
bondage,  rejoice  and  mount  upward.     And  this  is  like 
the  opinion  of  the  Greeks,  that  good  souls  have  their 
habitation  beyond  the  ocean  in  a  region  that  is  neither 
oppressed  with  storms  of  rain  or  snow,  nor  with  intense 
heat ;  but  that  this  place  is  such  as  is  refreshed  by  the 
gentle  breathing  of  a  west  wind  that  is  perpetually  blow- 
ing from  the  ocean :  while  they  allot  to  bad  souls  a 
dark  and  tempestuous  den,  full  of  never-ceasing  pun- 
ishments.   And,  indeed,  the  Greeks  seem  to  me  to  have 
followed  the  same  notion  when  they  allot  the  islands 
of  the  blessed  to  their  brave  men,  whom  they  call  he- 
roes and  demi-gods ;  and  to  the  souls  of  the  wicked 
the  region  of  the  ungodly  in  hades,  where  their  fables 
relate  that  certain  persons,  such  as  Sisyphus  and  Tantalus 
and  Ixion  and  Tityus,  are  punished  ;  which  is  built  on 
this  first  supposition,  —  that  souls  are  immortal.     And 
thence  are  those  exhortations  to  virtue  and  dissuasions 
from  wickedness  collected,  whereby  good  men  are  made 
better  in  the  conduct  of  their  life  by  the  hope  they 
have  of  reward  after  their  death,  and  whereby  the  ve- 
hement inclinations  of  bad  men  to  vice  are  restrained 
by  the  fear  and  expectation  they  are  in,  that,  although 
they  should  lie  concealed  in  this  life,  they  should  suffer 
deathless  punishment  (aftavatov  ti{juoqi<x,v>)  after  their  dis- 
solution.   These  are  the  divine- doctrines  of  the  Essenes 


JEWISH  BELIEF  IN   THE    TIME    OF   CHRIST.  171 

about  the  soul,  which  offer  an  irresistible  attraction  to 
those  who  have  once  had  a  taste  of  their  philosophy." 
The  reader  will  observe  in  this  passage  how  distinctly 
the  writer  represents  the  future  punishment  to  consist 
in  continual  suffering. 

His  statements  are  made  still  more  distinctly  signifi- 
cant by  the  account  which  he  gives  of  the  remaining 
sect,  the  Sadducees  :  "  The  doctrine  of  the  Sadducees 
is  this:  That  souls  die  with  the  bodies"  (Antiq.,  xviii. 
1,  4).  Again  (War,  ii.  8,  14):  "They  take  away  the 
belief  of  immortality,  and  the  punishments  and  rewards 
in  hades V 

This  testimony  is  explicit.  The  Pharisees  and  Es- 
senes  believe  in  a  state  of  endless  rewards  and  suffer- 
ing after  death.  The  Sadducees  discard  that  doctrine. 
It  only  remains  to  ask  which  of  these  sects  represents 
the  prevailing  and  received  belief.  Josephus  himself 
informs  us  that  "  the  Sadducees  are  able  to  per- 
suade none  but  the  rich,  and  have  not  the  populace 
obsequious  to  them,  but  the  Pharisees  have  the  multi- 
tude on  their  side  "  (Antiq.,  xiii.  10,  6)  ;  that  the  Phar- 
isees "  are  able  greatly  to  persuade  the  body  of  the  peo- 
ple "  (xviii.  1,  3)  ;  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Sadducees 
"  is  received  but  by  a  few,"  who,  when  they  become 
magistrates,  "  addict  themselves  to  the  notions  of  the 
Pharisees,  because  the  multitudes  would  not  other- 
wise hear  them  "  (xviii.  1,  4). 

Fully  coincident  with  this  is  Josephus's  remonstrance 
with  his  comrades  against  suicide  (War,  iii.  8,  5),  in 
which  he  urges,  that  "  the  soul  is  ever  immortal,  and 
is  a  portion  of  the  divinity  that  inhabits  our  bodies  ;  " 
that  "  those  who  depart  out  of  this  life,  according  to  the 


172  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

law  of  nature,  and  pay  that  debt  which  was  received 
from  God,  when  he  that  lent  it  is  pleased  to  require  it 
back,  enjoy  eternal  fame.  Their  houses  and  their  pos- 
terity are  sure  ;  their  souls  remain  pure  and  propitious 
to  prayer,  and  obtain  a  most  holy  place  in  heaven,  from 
whence,  in  the  revolution  of  ages,  they  are  again  sent 
into  pure  bodies  ;  while  the  souls  of  those  who  have 
acted  madly  against  themselves  are  received  by  the 
darkest  place  in  hades."  Again  (War,  i.  33,  2)  :  the 
learned  Jews  Matthias  and  Judas  are  represented  as 
rousing  a  sedition  against  Herod  by  the  consideration 
that,  "  it  was  a  glorious  thing  to  die  for  the  laws  of 
their  country  ;  that  for  those  thus  perishing  remained 
an  immortality  of  soul,  and  an  endless  fruition  of 
happiness."  And  when  forty  of  the  rebels  were 
brought  before  Herod,  and  interrogated  "  how  they 
could  be  so  joyful  when  they  were  to  be  put  to  death," 
they  replied,  "  because  they  should  enjoy  greater  hap- 
piness after  they  were  dead."  And  once  more,  at  the 
siege  of  Masada  (War,  vii.  8,  7),  Eleazer  the  leader 
of  the  Sicarii  urges  his  men  to  dispatch  one  another 
rather  than  fall  into  the  enemy's  hands,  by  a  burning 
appeal  to  the  doctrine  of  immortality :  "  The  laws  of 
our  country  and  God  himself,  have,  from  ancient 
times,  and  as  soon  as  we  could  use  our  reason,  contin- 
ually taught  us,  and  our  forefathers  have  corroborated 
the  same  doctrine  by  their  actions  and  by  their  bravery 
of  mind,  that  it  is  life  which  is  a  calamity  to  men,  and 
not  death  ;  for  this  last  affords  our  souls  their  liberty, 
and  sends  them  by  a  removal  into  their  own  place  of 
purity,  where  they  are  to  be  insensible  to  all  sorts  of 
misery.     For,  while  souls  are  tied  down  to  a  mortal 


JEWISH  BELIEF  IN   THE    TIME    OF   CHRIST.  173 

body,  they  are  partakers  of  its  miseries  :  and  really,  to 
speak  the  truth,  they  are  themselves  dead  [observe  his 
use  of  the  word  "  dead  "]  ;  for  association  with  what 
is  mortal  befits  not  that  which  is  divine."  And  he 
goes  on  to  a  considerable  extent,  pressing  on  them  the 
hope  of  a  blessed  immortality,  presenting  even  the  ex- 
ample of  the  Indians  "  who  have  such  a  desire  for  im- 
mortality that  they  cheerfully  hasten  to  their  death," 
and  asking,  "  Are  we  not  therefore  ashamed  to  have 
lower  notions  than  the  Indians  ?  "  Such  appeals  even 
to  the  populace  on  the  ground  of  reward  and  punish- 
ment hereafter,  however  perverted  may  have  been  the 
application,  are  the  best  possible  proof  of  the  universal 
hold  of  that  doctrine  on  the  popular  belief.* 

These  reiterated  testimonies,  uttered  by  a  learned 
Jew  whose  life  was  cotemporary  with  the  epistles  of 
Christ's  apostles,  present  an  insurmountable  difficulty 
to  those  who  incline  to  deny  the  prevalence  of  the  doc- 
trine among  the  Jews  of  Christ's  day  ;  for,  unfortu- 
nately for  them,  the  statements  can  not  be  rejected  as 
spurious,  or  of  questionable  genuineness.  Their  total 
meaning  can  not  possibly  be  mistaken,  nor  can  the 
perfect  competency  of  the  witness  be  called  in  question. 
In  all  these  respects,  the  testimony  is  impregnable. 

The  only  possible  resort  remaining  is  to  impeach  the 
veracity  of  Josephus.  This,  accordingly,  is  attempted 
by  one  leading  advocate  of  annihilation.  But  how  ? 
By  bringing  any  counter  testimony  to  refute  these  as- 
sertions ?    By  showing  any  inconsistency  in  his  several 

*  We  have  chosen  for  the  most  part  to  follow  the  common,  awkward 
translation  of  Josephus.  In  some  instances,  we  have  substituted  Traill's 
version  as  more  accurate. 


174  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

statements  on  this  subject?  By  proving  that  he  is  not, 
in  the  main,  a  veracious  narrator  ?  By  showing  that, 
in  this  particular  subject,  he  had  some  special  tempta- 
tion to  fabricate  a  deliberate  falsehood, — total,  circum- 
stantial, reiterated,  and  easy  of  refutation  ?  None  of 
these  things. 

Mr.  Hudson  endeavors  to  dispatch  this  troublesome 
witness  by  accumulating  from  various  writers  a  few 
general  criticisms  upon  him,  —  some  of  them  wholly 
irrelevant,  some  of  them  unfounded,  and  all  of  them 
falling  short  of  an  impeachment  of  his  testimony  on 
this  point, —  and  then  summarily  "  dismissing  Josephus 
as  an  unreliable  witness  "  (Debt  and  Grace,  p.  336). 

Mr.  Hudson  is  not  ashamed  to  quote  in  his  argument 
certain  epithets  applied  by  a  late  female  writer  (Char- 
lotte Elizabeth)  to  Josephus' s  personal  history,  such  as 
"  traitor,"  "  apostate,"  "  groveling  sycophant,"  "  ful- 
some flatterer,"  "  sordid,  craven  tool  of  the  pagan  foe," 
although  he  admits  that  the  language  "  is  perhaps  too 
expressive  of  indignant  feeling,"  and  fails  to  inform  us 
what  it  has  to  do  with  the  matter  in  hand,  supposing 
it  to  be  true. 

Among  the  cited  criticisms  upon  Josephus,  there  are, 
however,  two  classes  of  remarks  which  might  seem  to 
have  force. 

First,  it  is  alleged  that  he  is  not  always  trustworthy. 
"  Another  writer  observes,  It  must  be  owned,  that,  in 
his  account  of  the  Scripture  times,  he  has  taken  a  bold 
liberty  to  add,  alter,  retrench,  and  even  sometimes  con- 
tradict it ;  which  is  a  fault  for  which  no  other  apology* 
can  be  made  than  that  he  was  of  the  sect  of  the  Phar- 
isees, and  gave  too  much  credit  to  their  trifling  tradi- 


JEWISH  BELIEF  IN   THE    TIME   OF  CHRIST.  175 

tions."  The  same  writer  shows  that  the  whole  account 
given  by  Josephus  of  the  visit  of  Alexander  to  Jerusa- 
lem (Antiq.,  xi.  8,  5)  is  unquestionably  fabulous,  and 
is  "  at  a  loss  to  determine  whether  he  was  himself  the 
author  of  the  story,  or  was  imposed  upon  in  taking  it  as 
a  narrative  or  tradition  of  some  other  Jewish  writer  " 
(Debt  and  Grace,  p.  335).  A  note  on  the  same  page 
mentions  another  account  of  Josephus  (War,  vi.  9), 
which  "  is  shown  to  involve  insuperable  difficulties." 

Now,  yie  reader  will  observe  that  even  this  critic 
does  not  charge  Josephus  with  proved  intentional  false- 
hood, but  admits  that  his  deviations  from  Scripture 
history  were  because  "  he  gave  too  much  credit  to  " 
Pharisaic  "  traditions,"  and  that,  in  his  account  of 
Alexander,  he  may  have  been  "  imposed  upon."  It 
should  be  added  that  his  adhesion  to  the  Scripture  nar- 
rative in  his  Antiquities,  though  the  book  was  written 
for  heathen  readers,  is,  for  the  most  part,  singularly 
close  ;  most  of  the  deviations  being  by  way  of  expan- 
sion, while  others  show  inadvertence,  and  others  indi- 
cate that  he  probably  had  before  him  a  different  read- 
ing, as  is  sometimes  the  case  in  matters  of  number.* 
But  no  inadvertence,  no  difference  of  text,  no  imposi- 
tion, no  credulity,  could  mislead  him  in  the  doctrines 
of  his  cotemporary  sects. 

We  may  go  further  than  does  his  critic,  and  admit 
that,  in  his  topography,  he  is  sometimes  inaccurate,  as 
in  the  dimensions  of  the  temple,  which  he  perhaps  em- 
bellished, —  writing,  as  he  did,  far  from  the  place,  with- 
out exact  data,  and  prone  from  national  vanity  to 

*  In  some  instances,  the  suggestion  of  Josephus  actually  relieves  a  diffi- 
culty. 


176  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

magnify  its  glory.*  Still,  no  such  motive  can  be  found 
in  the  present  instance  ;  and  if  there  could,  it  would 
hardly  cover  the  case  of  a  deliberate  and  circumstan- 
tial invention  of  alleged  facts  concerning  his  own  be- 
lief and  that  of  the  whole  nation. 

Secondly,  it  is  alleged  that  "  his. doctrine"  is,  so  to 
speak,  "  un- Jewish  "  and  "  the  account  given  by  Jose- 
phus is  in  a  nomenclature  to  which  the  Jews  had  been 
strangers,  which  is  unknown  to  the  Talmud,  but  with 
which  the  Greeks  and  Orientals  were  quite  familiar."  f 
This  view  is  backed  by  several  quotations,  J  —  one  from 
Pococke,  that,  "  in  giving  the  views  of  the  sects  he 
names,  respecting  the  other  world,  he  [Josephus] 
seems  to  have  used  words  better  suited  to  the  fashions 
and  the  ears  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  than  such  as 
a  scholar  of  the  Jewish  law  would  understand  or  deem 
expressive  of  his  meaning ;  "  one  from  Matthaei,  that 
"  Josephus  was  pre-eminently  inclined  to  accommodate 
his  accounts  to  the  understanding  of  the  Gentiles;" 
one  from  Bretschneider,  that  "  his  extant  writings 
would  be  more  valuable  if  he  had  separated  their  views 
from  the  modifications  which  he  has  seen  fit  to  give 
them,  out  of  respect  to  the  Grecian  readers  for  whom 
he  wrote."  Harmer  is  quoted,  who  speaks  of  his  "  so- 
licitude  to  make  his  representation  of  the  opinions  and 
practices  of  that  nation,  in  those  writings  that  were 
designed  for  the  perusal  of  the  unbelieving  Gentiles, 
as  little  exceptionable  to  them  as  possible  ;  "  and  who 
also  says  that  "  some  of  the  learned  have  remarked  that 


*  Robinson's  Researches,  i.  415. 

t  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  224.  \  lb.  p.  335 


JEWISH  HE  LIEF  IN  THE    TIME   OF  CIIRIST.  177 

he  has  even  expressed  himself  in  such  a  manner  as 
might  lead  his  readers  to  imagine  that  the  Pharisees 
believed  rather  a  transmigration  than  a  proper  resur- 
rection." 

These  are  the  statements.  On  which  it  may  be  ob- 
served, 1.  That  no  one  of  the  writers  quoted  questions 
the  fundamental  veracity  of  Josephus's  statements. 
They  simply  aver  that,  in,  stating  his  views,  he  has  "  used 
vjords  suited  to  the  fashions  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans," 
and  that  "  he  was  pre-eminently  inclined  to  accommo- 
date his  accounts  to  the  understanding  of  the  Gentiles  :  " 
at  most,  that  he  has  given  "  modifications  "  to  his  state- 
ments out  of  respect  to  the  Gentiles,  has  made  them 
"  as  little  exceptionable  to  them  as  possible,"  or  has  in 
one  case  used  a  perhaps  intentional  ambiguity. 

2.  Inasmuch  as  both  the  treatises  from  which  we 
have  quoted  were,  in  the  form  in  which  we  have  them, 
expressly  written  for  and  to  be  understood  by  Gentile 
readers,  it  was  the  most  obvious  dictate  of  common 
sense  to  adapt  his  phraseology  to  their  "  fashions  "  and 
"  understandings  ; "  and,  in  alluding  directly  to  any 
supposed  resemblance  to  Gentile  views,  Josephus  was 
doing  only  what  is  common  enough  even  in  Christian 
writers,  and,  in  the  very  act  of  making  the  comparison, 
he  asserts  the  difference.  If  in  any  respect  he  may  be 
thought  to  have  modified  the  Jewish  notions,  that  soft- 
ening-down is  a  very  different  thing  from  an  out-and- 
out  fabrication.  Even  the  alleged  ambiguity  concern- 
ing the  resurrection  (if  designed)  was,  at  most,  a  shrink- 
ing from  an  outspoken  statement  of  belief.  If  his  words 
could  be  interpreted  by  some  of  his  readers  in  harmony 
with  the  doctrine  of  transmigration,  it  is  still  true  that 

12 


178  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

they  can  be  understood  strictly  of  a  proper  resurrec- 
tion, and  that,  in  any  case,  they  positively  assert  a  future 
retribution ;  and  it  is  true  that  his  reiterated  doctrine 
is  of  a  twofold  retribution,  —  eternal  happiness  and 
endless  suffering. 

3.  The  difficulty  of  invalidating  the  testimony  of  Jo- 
sephus  is  well  illustrated  by  the  two  remaining  specifi- 
cations. "  His  dissuasion  from  suicide  is  quite  Platonic : 
i  The  bodies  of  all  men  are  corruptible,  and  are  cre- 
ated out  of  corruptible  matter  ;  but  the  soul  is  ever 
immortal,  and  is  a  portion  of  the  divinity  that  inhabits 
our  bodies.'  "  The  last  clause  contains  the  alleged  Pla- 
tonic phrase.  But  if  that  one  mode  of  statement  indi- 
cates connivance  with  Platonism,  then  on  equally  valid 
grounds  does  the  Apostle  Peter's  expression  (2  Pet.  i.  4), 
"  That  by  these  ye  might  be  partakers  of  the  divine 
nature,"  indicate  a  collusion  with  Brahminism.  Such 
expressions,  when  occurring  singly,  are  too  common, 
and  too  readily  suggested  to  any  mind,  to  attract  at- 
tention. But  Mr.  Hudson  endeavors  to  settle  the  case 
by  one  other  quotation  from  Josephus :  "  To  the  pas- 
sage already  cited,  in  which  he  speaks  of  the  soul  as  a 
1  portion  of  the  divinity  that  inhabits  our  bodies,'  we  may 
here  add  the  following: '  Those  souls,'  he  says, '  which  are 
severed  from  their  fleshy  bodies  in  battles  by  the  sword, 
are  received  by  the  ether,  that  purest  of  elements,  and 
joined  to  that  company  which  are  placed  among  the 
stars :  they  become  good  demons  and  propitious  he- 
roes, and  show  themselves  as  such  to  their  posterity 
afterward.'  "  The  reader  will  appreciate  the  force  of 
this  argument,  when  he  learns  that  the  sentiment 
ascribed   by  Mr.  Hudson  to  Josephus   is  part  of  a 


JEWISH  BELIEF  IN  THE    TIME   OF  CHRIST.  179 

speech  which  Josephus  ascribes  to  the  heathen  emperor 
Titus* 

4.  The  declarations  of  Josephus,  as  the  reader  will 
observe,  are  not  found  alone  in  his  formal  statement  of 
doctrine,  but  they  stand  also  naturally  interwoven  in 
the  details  of  his  narrative,  as  comprising  the  motives 
addressed  to  his  countrymen  by  himself  and  other  Jews 
to  nerve  them  up  to  courage  and  to  fortitude.  The  ter- 
rors of  hell  were  urged  by  himself  to  dissuade  his  coun- 
trymen from  suicide.  The  joys  of  heaven  were  pre- 
sented by  Eleazer  and  Matthias  and  Judas,  to  persuade 
their  followers  to  brave  deeds ;  and  the  followers  of 
the  two  last  mentioned  sustain  themselves  in  the  hour 
of  condemnation  with  the  hopes  of  blessedness  after 
death.  These  accounts  are  not  only  intrinsically  nat- 
ural and  probable,  but,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  the 
presentation  of  such  motives  to  the  Jews  for  such  pur- 
poses is  specially  corroborated  by  the  Roman  historian 
Tacitus. 

5.  The  statement  of  Josephus  concerning  the  gen- 
eral difference  of  views  between  the  Pharisees  and  Sad- 
ducees  closely  corresponds  to  the  declarations  of  the 
New  Testament.  Josephus  is  more  full,  inasmuch  as 
it  was  part  of  his  purpose  to  describe  those  sects ; 
whereas  the  sacred  writer  alludes  to  them  only  inci- 
dentally, and  describes  them  only  so  far  as  necessary 

*  See  Josephus's  War,  vi.  1,  4,  quoted  in  Debt  and  Grace,  page  336.  We 
might  have  supposed  it  a  blunder,  though  a  very  inexcusable  one;  but 
when  the  attention  of  Mr.  Hudson  was  called  to  the  error,  he  told  the  in- 
formant (a  student  of  Chicago  Theological  Seminary)  that  it  was  corrected 
in  a  later  edition.  On  procuring  that  later  edition,  we  found  that  the  whole 
argument  and  passage  remained  as  before,  with  the  slight  difference,  that, 
instead  of  "  he  says,"  it  now  reads,  "  he  makes  Titus  say,"  — still  holding 
Josephus  responsible  for  the  sentiment. 


180  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

for  explanation.  The  accounts  are  entirely  harmoni- 
ous. 

6.  It  is  proper  to  add,  that,  in  general,  the  statements 
of  Josephus  on  this  and  other  kindred  subjects  are  re- 
ceived by  the  great  mass  of  historians  and  antiquari- 
ans ;  and  indeed,  in  connection  with  the  New  Testa- 
ment, they  constitute  a  very  large  part  of  the  material 
for  the  history  of  Jewish  affairs  in  those  times.  To 
mention  all  the  writers  whose  statements  rest  more  or 
less  extensively  on  the  declarations  of  Josephus  would 
be  simply  to  cite  the  names  of  every  writer  in  every 
department  of  literature  who  has  had  occasion  to  treat 
of  that  nation  or  that  age.  His  general  trustworthi- 
ness as  a  writer,  not  indeed  free  from  mistakes  arising 
from  forgetfulness,  inattention,  and  misinformation, 
yet,  on  the  whole,  well-informed  and  accurate,  especially 
on  topics  where,  as  in  the  present  case,  he  had  the 
means  of  personal  knowledge,  is  vindicated  by  the  later 
investigations. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  the  attempt  to  overthrow  the 
testimony  of  Josephus  on  this  subject  totally  breaks 
down.  It  lacks  the  first  element  of  a  valid  impeach- 
ment ;  and  the  decision  to  "  dismiss  Josephus  as  an 
unreliable  witness  "  is  a  very  serio-comic  device  to  get 
rid  of  a  fatal  testimony.* 


*  We  would  refer  to  Dr.  Traill's  introductory  essay  on  the  personal  char- 
acter of  Josephus  for  a  valid  though  brief  defense  of  his  credibility  as  a 
writer,  pages  14-25.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  weightiest  names  cited  by 
Mr.  Hudson  against  him  are  names  of  the  past.  Traill  well  remarks,  "A 
diligent  use  of  the  copious  means  placed  at  our  disposal  by  those  researches 
in  Palestine  which  English,  French,  German,  and  American  writers  have 
effected,  yields  proof,  various  in  its  kind,  and  often  very  definite,  entirely 
excluding  as  well  the  skepticism  that  had  been  admitted  by  some  of  the 
learned  of  the  seventeenth  century  as  the  less  erudite  cavils  of  recent  wri- 


JEWISH  BELIEF  IN    THE    TIME    OF   CHRIST.  181 

We  pass  to  Tacitus  the  more  readily  in  this  connec- 
tion, because  his  testimony  bears  directly  on  the  same 
use  of  the  doctrine  of  future  rewards  to  encourage 
personal  bravery  and  endurance  to  which  Josephus 
refers.  It  is  given  also  in  connection  with  the  same 
events;  namely,  the  capture  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus. 
He  was  co-temporary  with  that  transaction ;  and,  in  writ- 
ing an  account  of  it,  he  evidently  had  taken  pains  to 
inform  himself  concerning  the  Jewish  nation.  His 
honesty  of  intention  is  unquestioned,  as  well  as  his 
accuracy  in  stating  such  things  as  he  had  the  means 
of  investigating.  From  the  nature  of  the  case,  being 
a  Roman  historian,  he  commits  many  errors  in  narrat- 
ing the  past  history  of  the  nation,  as  he  did  not  have 
access  to  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  or  other  authentic  in- 
formation on  that  subject ;  but,  in  his  delineation  of 
their  current  habits  and  traits,  his  narrative  is  gener- 
ally correct,  and,  in  regard  to  marked  and  prominent 
facts,  trustworthy.* 

Tacitus  writes  thus  of  the  Jews  :  "  Infanticide  is  in 
every  case  a  crime  (necare  quemquam  ex  adgnatis  fla- 
gitiurti)  ;  and  the  souls  of  those  slain  in  battle  or  by 
torture  they  believe  to  be  eternal.  Hence  a  desire  for 
offspring,  and  a  contempt  of  death.  Dead  bodies  they 
bury  rather  than  burn,  after  the  custom  of  the  Egyp- 
tians: they  bestow  the  same  care  [as  do  the  Egyptians], 

ters.  Beyond  possibility  of  doubt,  as  may  now  be  shown,  Josephus  was  ac- 
curately and  familiarly  conversant  with  the  things  and  with  the  places,  a9 
well  as  with  the  transactions,  of  which  he  speaks:  quite  certain  it  is  that 
he  was  observant  in  his  habits,  and,  in  the  main,  correct  in  his  statements" 
,(p.  23,  American  edition). 

*  Mr.  Hudson  warmly  commends  the  honesty  of  Tacitus  (Debt  and 
Grace,  pp.  336,  337). 


182  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

and  hold  the  same  belief,  concerning  the  state  of  the 
dead  [de  infernis"  the  infernal  regions,  or  their 
occupants.  —  See  Freund's  or  Andrew's  Lexicons]. 
Hist.,  v.  5. 

Here  the  Roman  historian  testifies  to  the  same  gen- 
eral facts  with  Josephus.  The  desperate  valor  of  the 
Jews  in  battle,  and  their  invincible  endurance  of  suffer- 
ing and  torture,  were  well  known  to  him,  and  emphat- 
ically recorded  byjiim  (v.  14).  Equally  notorious  was 
the  fact,  which  he  and  Josephus  alike  recorded,  that 
this  fierce  bravery  was  sustained  by  the  hopes  of  a  fu- 
ture life,  and  was  stimulated  by  appeals  to  those  hopes. 
The  coincidence  is  striking. 

But  Tacitus  does  not  leave  the  subject  here.  He 
proceeds  to  speak  of  their  funeral  customs,  —  burying, 
and  not  burning,  wherein  they  resemble  the  Egyptians  ; 
and  to  this  he  adds,  that  they  bestow  the  same  care  as 
do  the  Egyptians,  and  hold  the  same  belief  concerning 
the  state  of  the  dead  or  the  infernal  regions.  What 
that  belief  is  the  reader  will  find  exhibited  in  a  pre- 
vious chapter  of  this  discussion.  Its  grand  feature,  as 
conclusively  proved,  was,  that  after  death  the  soul  en- 
ters on  a  protracted  state  of  rewards  or  punishments. 
Tacitus  thus  fully  confirms  the  statement  of  Josephus, 
that  the  Jews  of  that  day  held  the  doctrine  of  a  two- 
fold state  of  retribution  after  death  ;  and  corroborates 
even  his  special  and  repeated  declaration,  that  they 
were  sustained  in  battle  and  under  punishment  by  ap- 
peals to  that  belief. 

The  mode  in  which  Mr.  Hudson  deals  with  Tacitus 
is  equally  remarkable,  perhaps,  as  his  method  with 
Josephus.     He  entirely  omits  the  latter  part  of  the  pas- 


JEWISH  BELIEF  IN  THE   TIME   OF  CHRIST.  183 

sage  comprising  the  statement  of  their  belief  concern- 
ing the  state'of  the  dead;  and,  quoting  only  the 
previous  remark  concerning  those  who  die  in  battle 
or  by  torture,*  he  proceeds  to  say  that  ¥  the  lan- 
guage in  this  passage  is  peculiar,  in  that  it  clearly 
denotes  the  immortality  of  a  class. "  If  the  writer  had 
said  what  his  argument  requires,  "  the  immortality  of 
only  a  class,"  he  would  have  elicited  from  Tacitus  the 
preposterous  statement  that  only  those  who  die  in  bat- 
tle or  by  torture  live  hereafter.  That  is  to  say,  it  does 
not  follow,  from  the  historian's  mentioning  the  hopes 
held  out  to  those  who  die  in  battle  or  torture,  that  all 
other  persons  were  to  fail  of  immortality  :  he  evidently 
means  simply  that  special  promises  of  future  blessing 
were  held  out  to  them,  —  assurances  of  pre-eminent  re- 
ward, privilege,  or  exemption  ;  while  the  question,  how 
it  would  be  with  other  parties,  is  met  only  in  his  fuller 
statement  afterwards,  which  covers  the  whole  ground. 
Indeed,  the  phraseology  of  Tacitus  was  perhaps  pur- 
posely chosen  to  indicate  the  notion  of  special  privi- 
lege in  the  other  world.  He  does  not  employ  the  word 
"  immortal "  (immortalis),  nor  the  term  which  denotes 
simply  perpetual  existence  (sempiternus) ,  but  the  pe- 
culiar word  "  eternal  "  {ceternus),  which  (though  fre- 
quently synonymous  with  immortal)  is  used  to  desig- 
nate the  mode  of  existence  belonging  to  the  gods,  and 
had  already,  at  that  period  of  the  Roman  language,  be- 
gun to  be  sometimes  specially  limited  to  what  is  divine. f 
— _ , 

*  His  entire  quotation  is  this:  that  among  the  Jews  "infanticide  is  a 

crime,  and  the  souls  of  those  dying  in  battle  or  by  torture  are  eternal: 

hence  a  love  of  offspring,  and  contempt  of  death."     Why  does  he  arrest  the 

passage  there  ? 

t  See  Freund's  or  even  Andrews's  Latin  Lexicon  under  the  words  aster* 


184  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

There  is  therefore  good  reason  to  believe  that  Tacitus, 
who  is  remarkably  precise  in  his  use  of  language,  by 
this  carefully  chosen  word  intended  to  designate  special, 
and  perhaps  even  divine  prerogatives  promised  to  the 
hero.  At  the  very  least,  he  testifies  to  the  open  fact 
that  the  daring  of  the  brave  among  the  Jews  was  pre- 
eminently sustained  by  the  hope  of  future  blessings  ;  * 
while  he  testifies  with  equal  distinctness  that,  besides 
such  special  expectations,  the  Jews  held  a  general  the- 
ory of  the  future  world  similar  to  that  of  the  Egyptians. 
They  believed  in  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punish- 
ments. 

The  Jew  Philo  was  born  at  Alexandria,  in  Egypt,  a 
few  years  before  Christ.  His  own  views  are  admitted 
to  be  strongly  tinged  with  Platonism.  Still  he  has  left 
numerous  remarks  which  bear  on  the  subject  under 
discussion.     His  testimony  is  to  the  same  effect :  — 

"  Perhaps  some  one  will  say  he  [Cain]  should  have 
been  put  to  death  at  once.  This  is  a  human  mode  of 
reasoning,  fit  for  one  who  does  not  consider  the  great 
tribunal  of  all :  for  men  look  upon  death  as  the  ex- 
treme limit  of  all  punishments ;  but,  in  view  of  the  di- 

nitas,  cetevnus.  Thus  Cicero:  "  Deus  beatus  et  aeternus,"  Fin.  2,  27;  and 
again  (Nat.  Deor.  1,  8),  "Nihil  quod  ortum  sit,  aeternum  esse  potest."  Of 
course  he  means  in  the  strictest  use  of  the  term;  for  he  himself  extends  its 
application.  Freund  defines  the  word  ceternus  to  differ  from  sempilermis 
("  that  which  is  perpetual,  what  exists  as  long  as  time  endures,  and  keeps 
even  pace  with  it  ")  by  denoting  "  that  which  is  raised  above  all  time,  and 
can  be  measured  only  by  eons."  Of  ceternitas  he  says,  "  In  the  time  of  the 
emperors  a  title  of  the  emperor,  like  divinity,  majesty"  etc.  Pliny  writes  to 
Trajan,  "  Rogatus,  Domine,  a  Nicensibus  per  ceternitatem  tuam  salutcmque 
ut,"  etc.,  Pliny  Ep.  10,87.  The  reader  will  remember  that  the  emperors 
were  already  flattered  with  ascriptions  of  divine  qualities. 

*  This  term  is  a  near  approach  to  the  New-Testament  phrase,  "  eternal 
life." 


JEWISH  BELIEF  IN   THE    TIME   OF   CI1HIST.  185 

vine  tribunal,  it  is  scarcely  the  beginning  of  them."  * 
"The  constitution  of  man  [say  the  Scriptures]  was 
compounded   of  an    earthly  substance   and   a   divine 
spirit ;  ...  so  that,  if  man  is  mortal  as  to  his  visible 
part,  he  is  immortal  as  to  the  invisible.    Wherefore  we 
may  truly  say  that  man  stands  upon  the  border-line  of 
a  mortal  and  immortal  nature,  participant  of  each  as 
was  needful,  and  that  he  was  made  at  the  same  time 
mortal  and  immortal ;  mortal  as  to  his  body,  immortal 
as  to  his  mind."f    "  Death  is  twofold  ;  one  of  the  man, 
the  other  of  the  soul.     Death  of  the  man  is  the  sepa- 
ration of  the  soul  from  the  body  ;  but  death  of  the  soul 
is  the  destruction  of  virtue  and  the  assumption  of  vice. 
.  .  .  The  one,  as  it  were,  conflicts  with  the  other  ;  for 
the  former  is  a  separation  of  things  conjoined,  of  body 
and  soul :  the  latter,  a  conjunction  of  both ;  the  inferior, 
the  body,  gaining  the  mastery  over  the  superior,  the 
soul.  J     "  But,  to  me  and  my  friends,  death  with  the 
pious  would  be  more  acceptable  than  life  with  the  impi- 
ous ;  for  those  so  dying  immortal  life  receives,  but  those 
so  living  eternal  death  awaits."  §     The  true  proselyte 
"receives  the   most  fitting  gift  of  a  secure  place  in 
heaven,  such  as  one  may  not  describe  ;  but  the  repro- 
bate of  noble  birth  is  dragged  down  to  the  lowest  depths, 
being  cast  into  tartarus  and  deep  darkness."        "  Ho 
that  is  driven  forth  by  God  suffers  eternal  Qdidiov^  ban- 
ishment ;  for  while  one  who  is  not  yet  firmly  held  by 
vice,  may,  upon  repentance,  return  to  virtue,  the  native 
land  from  which  he  roved,  lie  who  is  seized  and  subju- 
gated by  great  and  incurable  disorder  must  to  all  eter- 

*  Philo  Judoeus,  ii.  421.  t  lb.  i.  p.  32. 

J  lb.  i.  p.  65.  §  lb.  i.  p.  233.  ||  lb.  p.  433. 


186  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

nity  bear  the  dire  penalties,  immortally  degraded  to 
the  place  of  the  impious,  that  he  may  suffer  unmixed 
and  continual  calamity."  *  These  and  many  other 
utterances  leave  no  doubt  of  the  views  which  Philo 
represents,  —  the  immortality  of  all  souls,  and  an  end- 
less retribution  of  blessedness  or  suffering. 

Perfectly  coincident  with  these  statements,  and  there- 
fore fully  corroborating  them,  are  the  brief  allusions 
to  the  prevalent  Jewish  views  found  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment itself. 

In  Paul's  defense  of  himself  before  Felix,  he  most 
distinctly  declares  the  doctrine  of  a  "  resurrection  of 
the  dead,  both  of  the  just  and  unjust,"  to  be  held  by 
him  and  his  Jewish  accusers  in  common  :  "  And  have 
hope  toward  God,  which  they  themselves  also  allow,  that 
there  shall  be  a  resurrection  of  the  dead,  both  of  the 
just  and  unjust"  (Acts  xxiv.  15). 

Other  passages,  though  less  explicit  than  this  con- 
cerning the  future  separate  destiny  of  the  wicked,  yet 
involve  the  general  doctrine  of  a  future  existence,  and 
abundantly  confirm  the  fuller  statements  of  this  pas- 
sage and  of  Josephus.  Thus,  when  the  Sadducees  came 
to  try  the  Saviour  with  their  puzzle  concerning  the 
resurrection,  the  question  evidently  assumes  that  the 
then  common  notion  of  a  future  life  included  the  in- 
discriminate resurrection  of  all.  The  question  takes 
for  granted  that  the  seven  brethren  and  the  one  wife 
all  alike  participate,  as  matter  of  course,  in  the  resur- 
rection (Luke  xx.  27-33). 

So  likewise  in  repeated  instances  in  which  the  pecu- 
liar views  of  the  Sadducees  on  this  subject  are  spoken 

*  lb.  i.  p.  139. 


JEWISH  BELIEF  IN    THE    TIME   OF  CHRIST.  187 

of  in  contrast  to  those  of  the  Pharisees,  the  difference 
is  never  given  as  a  difference  only  of  degree,  —  the 
one  as  holding  that  a  part  only  of  the  race  will  exist 
hereafter,  and  the  other  that  none  of  them  will  con- 
tinue,—  but  as  a  difference  of  kind  ;  the  one  affirming, 
the  other  denying,  a  whole  invisible  world,  a  whole  fu- 
ture existence.  In  the  presence  of  the  Sanhedrim 
(Acts  xxiii.  6-8),  "  when  Paul  perceived  that  the  one 
part  were  Sadducees,  and  the  other  Pharisees,  he  cried 
out  in  the  council,  Men  and  brethren,  I  am  a  Pharisee, 
the  son  of  a  Pharisee :  of  the  hope  and  resurrection 
of  the  dead  [not  merely  the  righteous  dead]  I  am 
called  in  question.  And  when  he  had  so  said,  there 
arose  a  dissension  between  the  Pharisees  and  the  Sad- 
ducees :  and  the  multitude  was  divided.  For  the 
Sadducees  say  that  there  is  no  resurrection,  neither 
angel  nor  spirit :  but  the  Pharisees  confess  both." 
Here  Paul  advances  the  unrestricted  proposition  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead  ;  and  the  explanatory  remarks 
of  the  sacred  writer  also  state  the  dissent  of  the  Sad- 
ducees in  the  same  sweeping  form.  In  the  same  manner, 
though  more  briefly,  the  Sadducees  are  mentioned  by 
each  of  the  evangelists,  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke 
(Matt.  xxii.  23  ;  Mark  xii.  18  ;  Luke  xx.  27),  as  those 
"  which  deny  that  there  is  any  resurrection." 

How  completely  does  Martha's  reply  to  the  Saviour 
(John  xi.  24)  assume  the  undoubted  fact  of  a  future 
existence  :  "  I  know  that  he  shall  rise  again  in  the 
resurrection  at  the  last  day." 

The  undoubting  hold  which  the  doctrine  of  a  con- 
tinuance after  death,  and  of  a  resurrection,  had  on  the 
whole  mass  of  the  Jewish  people,  is  well  exhibited  in 


188  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

the  opinions  entertained  by  the  multitude  concerning 
our  Saviour.  When  he  asked  his  disciples,  "  Whom 
do  men  say  that  I  am  ?  "  they  inform  him  of  three  or 
four  different  opinions  (Matt.  xvi.  14 ;  Mark  viii.  28  ; 
Luke  ix.  19)  ;  and  every  one  of  those  opinions  supposed 
him  to  be  a  deceased  person  re-appearing  on  earth. 
Even  Herod  Antipas,  the  murderer  of  John,  when  he 
heard  the  fame  of  Jesus,  "  said  unto  his  servants,  This 
is  John  the  Baptist ;  he  is  risen  from  the  dead  ;  and 
therefore  mighty  works  do  show  forth  themselves  in 
him"  (Matt.  xiv.  2).  It  matters  not  for  our  present  pur- 
pose that  this  future  existence  is  mentioned  in  the  form 
of  the  resurrection,  the  completed  aspect  of  the  future 
life.  Enough  that  a  belief  in  the  continued  existence 
of  man,  of  all  men,  after  death,  appears  clearly  to 
have  been  the  general  belief  of  the  Jews  at  the  time 
of  Christ.  And  the  testimony  as  clearly  shows  that 
there  was  to  be  a  resurrection  both  of  the  just  and  of 
the  unjust,  —  a  future  existence  both  of  happiness  and 
of  misery. 

Other  testimony  might  be  added,  as  from  the  first 
and  second  books  of  Maccabees,  and  from  the  book  of 
Enoch,  the  last  of  which  is  admitted  by  such  men  as 
Dr.  Davidson,  and  Dillmann,  the  learned  editor  and 
translator  of  the  book,  to  be  singularly  clear  on  the 
subject.*  The  Christian  bishop  Hippolytus,  of  the  sec- 
ond century,  reiterates  all  the  assertions  of  Josephus 
so  remarkably,  though  in  different  phraseology  (Liber 
ix.  28-30),  that  he  has  been  supposed  either  to  follow 
Josephus,  or  the  same  authority  from  which  he  drew  ; 
but  to  avoid  collateral  discussions,  we  content  ourselves 
with  the  testimony  we  have  cited,  which  is  authentic, 

clear,  and  to  the  point.       See  Appendix,  Note  I. 


CHAPTER  III. 

NEW  TESTAMENT    TEACHINGS.  —  IMMORTALITY.  —  IMMEDI- 
ATE DESTINY. 

WE  have  seen  the  indications  that  the  Jews  from 
ancient  times  held  the  belief  of  a  future  state 
of  retribution.  We  have  also  seen,  that,  in  the  time 
of  our  Saviour,  the  prevalent  opinion  of  the  nation 
recognized  that  state  as  one  of  happiness  or  of  suffer- 
ing. We  find  no  trace  of  any  denial  of  future  suffer- 
ing, except  on  the  part  of  those  who  denied  all  future 
existence. 

The  Saviour  and  his  apostles  were  therefore  not 
called  upon  to  propound  the  doctrine  of  suffering  here- 
after with  the  formalities  of  a  new  and  before  unheard- 
of  announcement.  There  was  no  pressing  occasion  for 
them  to  insist  with  peculiar  prominence  on  the  fact  or 
the  duration  of  that  two-fold  retribution,  but  rather 
on  its  application.  It  was  natural  for  them,  when  they 
spoke  of  the  subject,  to  dwell  chiefly  on  the  characters 
to  which  those  rewards  and  punishments  should  be  as- 
signed. This  is,  in  fact,  the  more  common  form  in 
which  these  instructions  are  given ;  although  they  do 
at  the  same  time  very  clearly  state  that  the  duration 
of  that  doom  is  eternal,  and  that  it  consists  in  holy 
blessedness  on  the  one  hand,  and  sin  and  misery  on 
the  other. 

189 


190  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

It  was  not  the  mission  of  Christ  and  his  apostles  to 
expatiate  upon  any  abstract  or  naked  doctrine  of 
immortality,  —  an  immortality  considered  irrespective 
of  all  its  moral  relations  and  tremendous  issues.  In- 
asmuch as  no  such  meaningless  immortality  exists  un- 
der the  government  of  God,  as  it  would  be  of  no 
account  whatever  to  man,  and  as  these  messengers 
came  on  an  errand  most  intensely  practical,  they,  in 
accordance  with  the  universal  custom  of  God's  Word, 
speak  simply  and  always  of  the  great  moral  and  prac- 
tical aspects  of  that  immortality.  While,  therefore, 
they  abundantly  assert  the  doctrine,  —  an  immortality 
both  for  the  good  and  for  the  evil,  —  it  is  always  in  the 
form  of  the  actual,  concrete  immortality  which  those 
two  classes  will  positively  experience,  rather  than  in 
propositions  of  some  abstract  unreal  immortality  which 
no  one  ever  will  experience,  and  which,  as  being  shorn 
of  all  moral  relations,  is  of  no  account.  On  such 
propositions  they  waste  no  breath. 

Here,  then,  we  readily  dispose  of  an  objection  on 
which  some  have  endeavored  to  place  much  stress.  Mr. 
Hastings,  with  great  industry,  and  with  a  liberal  dis- 
play of  italics  and  capital  letters,  large  and  small,  sets 
forth  the  number  of  times  that  the  word  "  soul "  oc- 
curs in  the  Scriptures,  and  triumphantly  inquires  why 
we  never  find  this  particular  word  (for  he  ingeniously 
avoids  alluding  to  other  words  descriptive  of  the  soul's 
destiny)  coupled  with  the  epithet  "  immortal,"  and  the 
like,  in  such  phrases  as  "  immortal  soul,"  "  never-dy- 
ing soul,"  "  undying  spirit."  *    Mr.  Hudson  employs  a 

similar  mode  of  argument :  "  But  if  the  soul's  immor- 

• ■ 

*  Pauline  Theology,  pp.  70,  71. 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  191 

tality  were  so  marvelously  clear  a  postulate  of  human 
reason,  it  must  be  a  most  cherished  sentiment,  and 
must  give  rise  to  many  common  expressions,  house- 
hold words  of  natural  theology.  In  fact,  whenever  and 
wherever  this  doctrine  has  obtained,  it  has  created  va- 
rious modes  of  expression  that  reveal  the  sentiment. 
Why,  then,  are  these  expressions  altogether  avoided  or 
ignored  in  the  Bible  ?  Why  should  the  Holy  Spirit, 
so  ready  to  catch  the  language  of  the  mortals  who 
were  to  be  taught  the  way  of  life,  have  failed  to  con- 
form to  their  style  of  thought  in  this  most  important 
item  of  their  own  immortal  nature  ?  Why,  if  God 
has  told  men  that  they  must  enjoy  or  suffer  for  ever, 
has  he  never  urged  his  invitation  or  his  warning  in  the 
name  of  the  immortality  he  has  given  them  ?  Such  a 
gift,  surely,  would  be  pre-eminently  worthy  of  mention 
to  those  who  think  and  say  so  much  of  their  supposed 
possession  of  the  boon."  * 

The  question  is,  Why  does  not  the  Bible  deal  in  such 
phrases  as  "  the  immortality  of  the  soul  ?  " — phrases  of 
so  frequent  occurrence  in  human  compositions.  The 
answer  is  short  and  simple.  It  is  not  alone  because 
the  fact  was  admitted  and  might  be  assumed,  but  also 
because  they  were  charged  with  messages  of  such  tre- 
mendous import  concerning  the  character  and  condi- 
tions of  that  endless  existence,  as  quite  threw  into  V.\q 
background  the  abstract  proposition  of  the  soul's  im- 
mortality. If  they  had  been  mere  human  teachers, 
very  possibly  they  might  have  indulged  in  sentimental 
dissertations  and  romantic  speculations  on  the  great- 
ness and  the  immortality  of  the  human  soul.  But 
, ^ 

*  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  165. 


192  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

they  came  as  divine  teachers,  to  teach  men  concerning 
their  present  and  eternal  relations  to  the  government  of 
God,  to  proclaim  endless  holiness  and  well-being,  or 
everlasting  sin  and  woe,  as  pending  on  faith  and  re- 
pentance here.  To  them  the  naked  question  of  im- 
mortality, aside  from  these  relations  and  issues,  was  of 
no  account  at  all, — no  more  than  the  life  of  an  oyster. 
They  therefore  addressed  themselves  to  their  divine 
mission,  and  told  men  always  of  the  actual  immortali- 
ty before  them.  They  never  tell  men  so  little  as  the 
bald  fact  that  they  shall  exist  hereafter:  they  tell  them 
a  great  deal  more ;  they  tell  them  abundantly  how  they 
shall  exist.  The  remark  is  true  in  regard  to  the  right- 
eous as  well  as  the  wicked.  Indeed,  the  objector  is 
obliged  to  make  this  fatal  admission  in  the  statement  of 
his  objection :  "  Why,  if  God  has  told  men  that  they 
must  enjoy  or  suffer  for  ever,  has  he  never  urged  his 
invitation  or  his  warning  in  the  name  of  the  immortal- 
ity he  has  given  them  ?  "  And  yet  the  righteous  are 
admitted  to  be  immortal  by  special  provision,  if  not  by 
native  gift. 

Such  is  the  Scripture  mode  of  speech  on  this  sub- 
ject. It  does  not  discourse  of  the  immortal  being  or 
existence  of  either  class  of  persons,  nor  say  that  they 
•shall  never  cease  to  be;  but  it  speaks  of  the  everlast- 
ing life  of  the  one  class,  the  eternal  weight  of  glory ; 
their  glory,  honor,  incorruptibility  (dop&aociav*)  ;  their 
incorruptible  crown ;  their  inheritance  incorruptible,  un- 
defiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away  ;  their  shining  as  the 
stars  for  ever  ;  their  state  in  which  they  shall  hunger  no 
more,  neither  thirst  any  more,  where  there  shall  be  no 
more  death,  neither  sorrow  nor  crying,  nor  any  more 


NE  W  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  193 

pain.  Precisely  so,  on  the  other  hand,  if  there  is  no 
metaphysical  statement  concerning  the  "  never-dying 
spirit,"  or  the  "  eternal  existence"  of  the  wicked,  there 
are  the  most  positive  and  awful  assertions  of  their  ev- 
erlasting punishment,  their  never-dying  worm  and  un- 
quenchable fire,  their  never  receiving  forgiveness  in 
this  world  or  the  world  to  come,  their  eternal  damna- 
tion, the  smoke  of  their  torment  that  ascendeth  up  for 
ever  and  ever,  their  shame  and  everlasting  contempt, 
their  departure  into  everlasting  fire  prepared  for  the 
devil  and  his  angels,  everlasting  destruction  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord,  their  being  destined  to  the  black- 
ness of  darkness  for  ever,  and  receiving  from  God  in- 
dignation and  wrath,  tribulation  and  anguish,  at  the 
day  of  judgment.  It  is  therefore  little  more  than  a 
quibble  to  argue  that  the  phrases  "  immortal,"  "  never- 
dying,"  and  the  like,  are  not  applied  to  the  soul  itself, 
when  they  are  abundantly  applied  to  its  destiny  and 
condition.  "  It  matters  not  that  the  Bible  does  not 
know  the  phrase  '  immortal  soul,'  when  it  so  mani- 
festly knows  the  thing-"  And,  indeed,  so  perfectly  in 
keeping  with  the  whole  practical  method  of  God's  Word 
is  its  entire  abstinence  from  all  utterance  concerning 
the  mere  "  immortality  of  the  soul,"  that,  had  it  been 
otherwise,  very  likely  the  present  objectors  might  have 
been  first  to  question  the  genuineness  of  the  passages, 
and  to  insinuate  that  they  were  "  evidently  of  foreign 
origin,  of  a  philosophic  cast,  and,  so  to  speak,  un- Jew- 
ish," at  least  unscriptural. 

The  Scriptures,  then,  describe  the  actual  fate  and 
condition  of  both  the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  as  they 
continue  in  conscious  joy  or  woe  for  evermore. 

13 


194  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

The  Scriptures  affirm  the  conscious  existence  of  both 
classes  of  men  during  the  period  after  death  and  prior 
to  the  resurrection  of  the  body. 

It  is  a  somewhat  logical  portion  of  the  common  doc- 
trine of  annihilation  to  deny  the  active  and  conscious 
existence  of  the  dead  prior  to  the  resurrection.  Many, 
if  not  most,  of  its  advocates  hold  to  an  actual  extinction 
of  being,  from  which  men  are  resuscitated  only  at  the 
resurrection.  The  tendencies  of  a  system  which  re- 
volts from  the  idea  of  endless  sufferings  inflicted  on 
the  impenitent,  naturally  recoil  also  from  admitting 
the  continuance  of  those  sufferings  for  an  unknown 
time,  protracted  certainly  in  some  cases  many  thou- 
sand years  ;  while  consistency  requires,  that,  in  deny- 
ing the  conscious  activity  of  the  wicked,  that  of  the 
righteous  should  be  also  denied  or  questioned.  The 
exclusive  stress  which  the  scheme  lays  upon  the  resur- 
rection indicates  the  same  felt  necessity. 

It  is  freely  conceded  and  maintained  by  us  that  the 
Scriptures  contemplate  the  entire  consummation  of 
human  destiny  as  taking  place  when  soul  and  body 
are  re-united  in  a  future  world.  The  body,  which 
shared  the  soul's  probation,  must  also  share  its  retribu- 
tion. Towards  that  state  of  re-union  most  of  the  ut- 
terances of  God's  Word  on  this  subject  are  directed,  just 
as  most  of  its  declarations  concerning  Christ's  king- 
dom view  that  kingdom,  not  in  its  progress  and  inter- 
mediate state,  but  in  its  thorough  consummation.  It 
lays  a  very  marked  stress  on  the  resurrection  and  its 
sequel.  Intent  on  the  final  issue,  the  retribution  of 
the  complete  man,  it  says  comparatively  little  upon 
the  intermediate  state  of  the  soul  previous  to  the  res- 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  195 

urrcction  of  the  body.  Still,  the  Scriptures  do  speak, 
in  our  judgment,  distinctly  and  emphatically  upon  the 
immediate  doom  of  both  classes  of  men  on  passing 
from  this  life.  Such  has  been  the  clear  and  general 
understanding  of  the  Christian  Church.  Out  of  the 
immense  throng  of  Christian  writers,  however,  it  is 
easy  to  cite  occasional  instances  of  men  who,  pressed, 
as  they  supposed,  by  the  prominence  of  the  resurrec- 
tion, and  the  imagined  incompatibility  of  the  public 
doom  then  to  be  pronounced  with  a  previous  retribu- 
tion, have  endeavored  to  explain  away  these  teach- 
ings. Still  the  declarations  of  the  Scriptures  on  this 
point  are  perfectly  level  to  the  common  apprehension. 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  teachings  already  ad- 
duced from  the  Old  Testament  have  a  bearing  on  this 
subject.  To  those  remarks  the  reader  is  referred.  We 
proceed  to  show  that  the  New  Testament  teaches  the 
conscious  activity  and  retribution  of  the  soul  on  pass- 
ing from  the  body. 

First,  in  regard  to  the  righteous.  Here  we  find 
clear  though  brief  declarations  that  cover  every  aspect 
of  the  subject,  and  show  that  to  the  believer  the  alter- 
native condition  is  either  to  be  in  the  body  below  or 
with  the  Lord  above. 

1.  It  is  taught  that  the  soul  without  the  body  might 
enjoy  celestial  glories  and  communications.  In  2  Cor. 
xii.  1-4,  Paul  says,  "  I  will  come  to  visions  and  reve- 
ations  of  the  Lord.  I  knew  a  man  in  Christ  above 
fourteen  years  ago  (whether  in  the  body  I  can  not  tell, 
or  whether  out  of  the  body  I  can  not  tell :  God  know- 
eth),  such  a  one  caught  up  to  the  third  heaven.  And 
I  knewr  such  a  man  (whether  in  the  body  or  out  of  the 


196  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

body,  I  can  not  tell :  God  knoweth),  how  that  he  was 
caught  up  into  paradise,  and  heard  unspeakable  words, 
which  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to  utter."  Here  the  apos- 
tle, while  informing  his  readers  that  he  was  "  caught  up 
to  the  third  heaven,"  "  caught  up  into  paradise,"  also 
twice  solemnly  reiterates  the  declaration, that,  "whether 
in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body,"  he  can  not  tell.  In  his 
view,  then,  it  was  possible  for  such  experiences  of 
heaven  to  take  place  "  out  of  the  body ;  "  and  the  very 
fact  that  he  raises  the  suggestion,  and  repeats  it  so  ear- 
nestly, shows  that  he  judged  it  to  be  "  out  of  the  body." 
Alford  remarks  thus  :  "If  in  the  bodv,'  the  idea  would 
be  that  he  was  taken  up  bodily  ;  if  '  out  of  the  body/ 
to  which  the  alternative  manifestly  inclines,  that  his 
spirit  was  rapt  from  the  body,  and  taken  up  disem- 
bodied ;  "  but,  whichever  might  be  his  decision  between 
the  two  modes,  he  clearly  affirms  the  possibility  of  a 
man's  being  taken  to  the  third  heaven,  to  paradise,  and 
hearing  unspeakable  words  there,  while  out  of  the 
body. 

2.  It  is  also  taught  in  the  New  Testament  that  not 
only  the  soul  of  the  Christian  might,  but  that  it  would, 
enter  and  enjoy  the  presence  of  Christ  at  death  ;  and 
that  the  continuance  of  its  life  here  in  the  body  actu- 
ally delays  its  enjoyment  of  Christ's  immediate  pres- 
ence in  glory.  "  For  to  me  to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die 
is  gain;  but  if  I  live  in  the  flesh,  this  is  the  fruit  of  my 
labor :  yet  what  I  shall  choose  I  wot  not.  For  I  am 
in  a  strait  betwixt  two  [literally  "  the  two  "],  having  a 
desire  to  depart  and  to  be  with  Christ,  which  is  far  bet- 
ter: nevertheless,  to  abide  in  the  flesh  is  more  needful 
for  you"  (Phil.  i.  21-24). 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  197 

In  the  previous  context  (verses  19,  20),  the  apostle 
declares  that  even  the  hostile  preaching  of  his  oppo- 
nents "shall  turn  to  my  salvation;"  "according  to  my 
earnest  expectation,  and  my  hope,  that  in  nothing  I 
shall  be  ashamed  [or  brought  to  shame],  but  that  with 
all  boldness,  as  always,  so  now  also,  Christ  shall  be 
magnified  in  my  body,  whether  it  be  by  life  or  by 
death."  He  knew  so  well  that  God  would  cause  even 
the  malice  of  foes  to  redound  to  his  salvation,  that  he 
hoped  to  be  perfectly  undaunted  in  devoting  his  body, 
with  all  its  powers,  to  the  honor  of  Christ,  whether  it 
were  to  be  "  by  a  life  "  of  labor,  or  "  by  a  death  "  of 
martyrdom.  "  For  to  me  to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is 
gain  ;  "  i.e.,  while  I  live,  I  live  in  Christ,  and  when  I 
die,  I  go  to  live  with  him,  as  the  thought  is  more  fully 
evolved  in  the  subsequent  verses  :  "  What  I  shall  choose 
I  wot  not.  For  I  am  in  a  strait  betwixt  the  two,  hav- 
ing a  desire  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ  [the  one  al- 
ternative] ,  which  is  far  better :  nevertheless,  to  abide 
in  the  flesh  [the  other  alternative]  is  more  needful  for 
you.  And  having  this  confidence,  I  know  that  I  shall 
abide  and  continue  with  you  all  for  your  furtherance  and 
joy  of  faith."  The  passage  clearly  affirms,  not  only  that 
his  death  would  be  to  him  a  gain,  and  the  better  alter- 
native, but  that  his  continuing  to  live  and  labor  for  the 
Philippians  was  a  detention  from  the  immediate  presence 
of  Christ ;  the  attractions  of  that  presence  being  so 
strong  as  to  put  him  in  a  great  strait  whether  he  should 
desire  to  live  and  labor,  or  to  die  and  go  home  to  his 
reward. 

The  only  objection  that  deserves  attention  is  this : 
That,  though  the  period  from  death  to  the  resurrection 


198  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

should  be  one  of  total  insensibility,  the  apostle  might 
properly  speak  of  passing  directly  from  death  to  heaven, 
because,  "  in  respect  of  his  own  perceptions,  the  moment 
of  his  breathing  his  last  in  this  world  would  be  in- 
stantly succeeded  by  that. of  his  waking  in  the  presence 
of  his  Lord."  *  But  this  explanation  wholly  fails  to 
meet  the  point.  The  apostle  was  perplexed  between 
his  earnest  longing  to  be  with  Christ  and  his  desire  to 
stay  longer  here  and  do  good  to  the  churches.  But, 
if  death  were  succeeded  by  a  long  unconsciousness,  a 
speedy  death  would  bring  him  no  sooner  to  Christ,  and 
could  hold  out  no  inducement  such  as  to  place  him  in 
a  strait.  It  was  no  alternative  betwixt  two.  Let  him 
have  botli  privileges.  They  did  not  interfere  in  the 
slightest  degree.  Let  him  live  Christ  a  hundred  or 
eighteen  hundred  years,  and  then  depart ;  he  will  be 
just  as  near  the  joys  of  Christ's  presence  then,  and  no 
nearer.  The  alternative  that  Paul  makes  between 
these  two  strong  desires  is  entirely  fatal  to  the  attempted 
evasion.f      * 

To  the  same  effect  is  the  passage  in  2  Cor.  v.  1-9 : 
"  For  we  know  that  if  our  earthly  house  of  this  taberna- 
cle were  dissolved,  we  have  a  building  of  God,  a  house 
not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.  .  .  . 
Therefore  we  are  always  confident,  knowing  that,  whilst 


*  Whately's  Future  State,  p.  87. 

t  Ellis  and  Read  make  a  characteristic  and  noticeable  comment:  "  He 
was  perplexed  between  the  two,  whether  to  choose  life  or  to  choose  death ; 
they  were  both  equally  indifferent  to  him"  (p.  139).  He  must  have  been 
thus  in  the  state  of  a  worn-out  man  of  the  world,  who  has  nothing  to  hope 
either  in  life  or  in  death,  —  a  sort  of  ancient  Chesterfield. 

Mr.  Hudson's  attempts  on  the  passage  hardly  deserve  attention,  but  may 
be  found  in  a  note  in  the  Appeudix. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  TEACHINGS.  199 

we  are  at  home  in  the  body,  we  are  absent  from  the 
Lord  (for  we  walk  by  faith,  not  by  sight)  :  we  are 
confident,  I  say,  and  willing  rather  to  be  absent  from 
the  body,  and  to  be  present  with  the  Lord."  Here  are 
the  same  alternatives  presented  in  double  mode :  To 
be  at  home  in  the  body  is  to  be  absent  from  the  Lord ; 
and  to  be  absent  from  the  body  is  to  be  present  with 
the  Lord  ;  and  the  latter  was  the  thing  which  the  apos- 
tle was  "  willing  "  to  do.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  any 
honest  interpretation  can  escape  the  meaning.  Life  in 
the  flesh  detains  the  Christian  from  Christ's  immediate 
presence  ;  and  death  introduces  him  there. 

3.  It  is  affirmed  that  the  believer  upon  the  death  of 
the  body  actually  does  enter  heavenly  blessedness  at 
once.  The  penitent  thief  on  the  cross  "  said  unto  Je- 
sus, Lord,  remember  me  when  thou  comest  into  thy 
kingdom.  And  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Yerily,  I  say  unto 
thee,  To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  paradise  "  (Luke 
xxiii.  42,  43.) 

The  meaning  of  this  declaration,  which  has  been  the 
common  apprehension  of  the  Church,  lies  plainly  on 
the  face  of  it.  To  the  prayer  for  a  gracious  remem- 
brance at  the  future  unknown  coming  of  Christ  in 
glory,  "when  thou  comest  in  (tv)  thy  kingdom,"  — 
whenever  that  may  be,  —  Christ  replies  with  the  prom- 
ise of  immediate  blessedness,  — "  to-day  with  me  in 
paradise."  And  this  interpretation  will  sustain  the 
most  rigid  examination,  and  repel  all  attempted  eva- 
sions. 

"Paradise  "  is  mentioned  in  but  two  other  passages 
of  the  New  Testament.  In  2  Cor.  xii.  2,  Paul  first 
speaks  of  having  been  "  caught  up  to  the  third  heaven 


200  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

and,  in  verse  4,  repeats  the  statement  thus  :  "  He 
was  caught  up  into  paradise,  and  heard  unspeakable 
words,"  where  it  is  a  place  of  blessed  consciousness 
and  communion  with  God.  In  Rev.  ii.  7  occurs  the 
promise  unto  the  faithful :  "  To  him  that  overcometh 
will  I  give  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  life,  which  is  in  the  midst 
of  the  paradise  of  God,"  — where  paradise  includes  the 
joys  which  are  elsewhere  (Rev.  xxii.  2,  14)  described 
as  the  full  fruition  of  God's  immediate  presence.*  It 
was  to  be  "  with  Christ."  This  confirms  and  fixes  the 
general  meaning  of  paradise.  "  To  be  with  Christ," 
it  will  be  remembered,  was  the  end  of  Paul's  own 
highest  longing  (Phil.  i.  23).  This  was  to  take  place, 
not  at  some  distant  vague  future,  but  "  to-day."  That 
day,  then,  the  dying  penitent  was  to  meet  the  dying 
Saviour  beyond  this  world  in  conscious  blessedness  in 
the  immediate  presence  of  God. 

That  this  passage  declares  precisely  what  it  appears 
to  signify  —  the  presence  of  the  crucified  malefactor 
with  Christ  in  paradise  on  that  very  day  —  is  the  united 
voice  of  modern  critics  and  commentators.  No  mod- 
ern commentator  or  editor  of  respectable  scholarship  is 

*  Such  being  the  actual  and  indisputable  New-Testament  usage,  the  his- 
tory of  the  word  is  of  no  special  account.  It  is  supposed  to  be  foreign  to  the 
Hebrew  or  Greek ;  an  Eastern  Asiatic  word  employed  to  describe  the  parks  and 
pleasure-grounds  of  oriental  monarchs  (Neh.  ii.  8;  Eccles.  ii.  5),  used  also 
in  the  Septuagint  of  the  Garden  of  Eden  (Gen.  ii.  8,  9,  10,  15,  16;  iii.  1,  2,  8, 
10,  23).  Hence,  like  Zion  and  other  words,  it  became  elevated,  and  desig- 
nated the  blissful  region  filled  with  the  presence  of  the  Monarch  of  heaven. 
No  questioning  whether  this  was  (in  the  present  case)  in  or  out  of  hades  can 
evade  that  plain  fact  of  the  New  Testament.  It  includes  the  region  to 
which  Paul  was  taken  when  caught  up,  while  living,  to  the  third  heaven; 
it  comprehends  the  region  of  future  joy  to  all  the  redeemed  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse at  last;  it  comprises  the  place  where  Christ  went  when  he  prayed, 
"  Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit." 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  201 

known  to  defend  a  different  view  ;  ,and  most  ccmrnen- 
tators  in  strong  terms  denounce  the  futility  of  all  at- 
tempts to  tamper  with  the  passage,  or  its  plain  mean- 
ing. So  Bengel,  Olshausen,  Kuinoel,  De  Wette,  Meyer. 
Alford,  and  numerous  others  of  less  commanding  emi 
nence.  So  such  editors  as  Knapp,  Hahn,  Lachmann, 
Teschendorf.* 

There  have,  however,  been  attempts  to  tamper  with 
the  passage,  from  the  days  of  Marcion  the  heretic,  who 
adopted  the  summary  method  of  rejecting  the  whole 
verse.  This  method  was  much  the  easiest,  as  appears 
from  the  variety  and  awkwardness  of  the  subterfuges 
employed  by  others.  It  was  only  open  to  one  objec- 
tion, that  the  verse  is  found  in  all  manuscripts. 

Ellis  and  Read  f  prepare  the  way  for  their  exposi- 
tion, by  certain  objections  to  the  common  interpretation. 
Among  them  the  most  noticeable  are  these  :    1.  That 


*  Ellis  and  Read  (p.  161)  make  this  deceptive  statement:  "In  the 
margin,  Griesbach  puts  the  stop  after  '  to-day.'  "  The  fact  is  that  he  did  it 
in  the  margin  because  (bold  as  he  was)  he  did  not  dare  to  do  it  in  the  text. 
He  was  a  venturesome  man,  who  never  hesitated  to  introduce  changes  in  the 
text  when  he  saw  what  he  deemed  a  good  reason.  Accordingly,  he  often  un- 
hesitatingly inserted  words  and  phrases  in  the  body  of  the  text,  and  struck 
out  others ;  he  also  indicated  words  that  ought,  in  his  opinion,  probably, 
though  not  certainly,  to  be  inserted  or  omitted;  he  specified  what  readings 
seemed  to  him  of  equal  authority  with  those  in  the  text,  or  perhaps  prefer- 
able, those  which  seemed  to  him  requiring  to  be  added,  though  not  with- 
out some  doubt,  and  those  which  deserved  further  consideration.  For 
these  various  methods  of  dealing  with  the  text,  he  had  twelve  different  signs  ■ 
to  signify  the  state  of  the  case.  But  there  were  certain  other  emendations 
which  he  sometimes  chose  to  indicate  in  the  margin,  but  to  which  he  did 
not  venture  to  commit  his  scho'arfehip  or  his  judgment  by  expressing  any 
opinion  whatever.  The  present  case  is  of  this  last  description.  Griesbach 
does  not  venture  to  change  the  punctuation  of  the  text,  or  even  openly  to 
question  it.    He  throws  an  irresponsible  suggestion  into  the  margin. 

}  Pages  159-161. 


202  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

paradise  is  "  a  location  on  the  new  earth  ;  and  how  could 
either  Christ  or  the  thief  be  in  paradise  that  day,  when 
paradise  does  not  yet  actually  exist  ?  "  To  which  a 
sufficient  answer  is  found  in  Paul's  statement  in  2  Cor. 
xii.  4,  that  he  himself  had  been  already  caught  up  into 
paradise.  2.  "  How  could  Christ  be  in  paradise  that 
very  day  he  was  crucified,  when,  on  the  third  day  after, 
he  said  to  Mary,  *  Touch  me  not,  for  I  have  not  yet  as- 
cended to  my  Father '  ?  "  Answer :  Christ  himself 
makes  it  perfectly  plain,  when,  in  his  dying  prayer,  he 
said,  a  Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit." 
His  spirit  was  with  God  at  death  ;  his  re-animated 
body  did  not  ascend  till  forty  days  after  its  resurrec- 
tion and  re-union  with  his  spirit  on  earth.  3.  The  soul 
of  Christ,  when  he  died,  was  "  in  a  state  of  death  ; " 
then  "  how  could  any  part  of  him,  whether  soul,  body, 
or  spirit,  as  a  living  thing,  be  with  the  living  thief  in 
paradise  on  that  day,  while  both  were  dead?"  —  an 
inquiry  that  may  have  some  force  with  those  who  be- 
lieve that  the  whole  spiritual  being  of  the  God-man 
was  extinct,  annihilated,  during  the  interval  between 
the  dissolution  and  resurrection  of  his  body.  4.  The 
thief,  it  is  said,  did  not  die  till  the  next  day  or  the  day 
after,  therefore,  "  how  could  the  thief,  while  hanging 
alive  on  the  cross,  and  Christ,  who  was  dead  during  the 
three  remaining  hours  of  that  day,  be  in  any  other 
place  than  xon  the  cross  ?  "  The  assumption  made 
simply  on  the  ground  of  the  alleged  practice  of  not 
breaking  the  legs  of  the  crucified  till  after  the  lighting 
of  Sabbath  candles,  and  this  taking  place  not  till  "  an 
hour  and  a  quarter,  or,  according  to  some,  till  twenty- 
five  hours,  after  the  expiration  of  that  day,"  would,  be 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  203 

characteristically  bold  in  any  case  when  adduced  to 
settle  a  question  of  fact,  but  becomes  'die  in  face  of  the 
direction  (Deut.  xxi.  22,  23)  to  take  down  the  cruci- 
fied on  the  same  day,  the  declaration  of  Josephus 
(War,  iv.  5,  2),  that,  in  his  day,  it  was  the  custom  to 
take  down  and  bury  the  crucified  before  sunset,  and 
the  special  assertion  of  John  (xix.  32)  that  the  legs 
of  the  thieves  were  broken  to  insure  their  being  taken 
away  before  the  coming-on  of  the  [Jewish]  Sabbath, 
i.e.  before  night  of  the  day  of  crucifixion. 

The  first  evasion  (proposed  and  apparently  preferred 
by  the  same  writer)  is  this :  "  The  thief  prayed,  Lord, 
remember  me  in  the  day  of  thy  coining.*  And  Jesus 
said  unto  him,  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  this  day  (the 
day  of  my  coining)  shaltthou  be  with  me  in  my  king- 
dom. "  And  on  the  next  page  he  explains,  that,  by 
"  this  day,  the  day  of  my  coming,"  is  meant  the  day 
of  "  Christ's  second  coming,"  "  to  be  remembered  when 
Christ  came,  not  when  lie  went  away,"  —  a  period  in 
the  then  distant  future.  In  other  words  (if  we  rightly 
understand  an  exposition  sufficiently  vague  in  the  ex- 
pression and  connection),  the  real  meaning  is,  "  in  that 
day  thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  paradise."  On  this  at- 
tempt only  two  remarks  are  called  for.  1.  The  first 
step  is  the  arbitrary  change  of  the  previous  verse,  des- 
titute of  all  valid  foundation.!  2.  The  second  step  is 
a  still  more  violent  change  of  meaning  in  the  word  "  to- 

*  The  reader  will  observe  the  change  of  the  text,  u  when  thou  comest 
in  thy  kingdom,"  to  "in  the  day  of  thy  coming.'''' 

t  Among  all  the  Greek  manuscripts,  the  reading,  "  in  the  day  of  thy  com- 
ing," is  not  known  to  have  been  found  in  more  than  one  (Codex  D),  and 
that  one  remarkable  for  the  capricious  alterations  which  cause  it  to  rank 
lowest  of  the  five  older  manuscripts. 


204  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

day  "  to  make  it  really  mean  "  that  day,"  a  distant  fu- 
ture day  ;  a  signification  of  which  the  Greek  word 
(atjfjisQov)  no  more  admits  than  does  the  plain  English 
word  "  to-day." 

A  second  evasion  (also  suggested  by  the  same  writer), 
and  perhaps  the  most  common,  is  to  connect  thus : 
c;  Verily  I  say  unto  thee  to-day,  thou  shalt  be  with  me 
in  paradise  ;  "  that  is,  I  say  it  to-day. 

The  first  and  obvious  suggestion  is  the  absurdity  of 
putting  in  his  mouth  the  idle  statement  that  he  says  a 
thing  "  to-day,"  when  every  thing  that  is  said,  is  and 
must  be  uttered  on  the  speaker's  "  to-day."  To  avoid 
this  absurdity,  Mr.  Hudson  endeavors  to  find  a  special 
emphasis  for  the  word,  thus  :  "I  say  unto  thee,  even 
this  day,  when  all  seems  so  unlikely,  thou  shalt  be  with 
me  in  paradise  when  I  enter  my  kingdom."  To  this 
we  reply, — 

1.  The  mode  of  conception,  "  when  all  seems  so  un- 
likely," is  entirely  alien  from  our  Lord's  method  of 
view  and  speech.  When  did  he  deem  it  needful,  even 
in  declaring  his  most  stupendous  future  doings,  to  lower 
the  Godlike  certainty  of  his  assurances  by  any  such 
deprecatory  remark  as  "  strange  as  it  may  appear  to 
you,"  or,  "  though  it  may  seem  so  unlikely  "  ?  The 
Saviour  had  made  much  more  astounding  predictions 
than  the  simple  promise  that  a  penitent  and  forgiven 
sinner  should  join  him  in  heaven,  and  deemed  it  need- 
less to  allude  to  the  seeming  difficulty  of  the  case.  It 
may  be  the  method  of  a  common  man,  struggling  hope- 
fully under  difficulties,  to  say  that,  incredible  as  it  may 
now  appear,  he  shall  still  be  able  to  redeem  his  prom- 
ises.   It  was  not  the  manner  of  the  Saviour.    2.  There 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  205 

was  no  call  for  such  an  allusion.  The  penitent  thief  had 
no  occasion  for  it.  He  expressed  himself  with  the  full- 
est confidence  in  Christ.  He  did  not  say,  "  Help  me  if 
thou  ever  hast  the  power;"  but,  "  Lord,  rememher  me 
when  thou  comest  in  thy  kingdom."  To  have  replied 
to  him,  "  Improbable  as  it  may  seem,  I  will,"  would 
have  been  simply  to  suggest  a  doubt  to  a  dying  man 
who  had  no  doubt  before.  It  would  have  been  as  un- 
suitable to  the  state  of  mind  in  the  one  party,  as  it 
would  have  been  out  of  character  in  the  other.  3.  This 
interpretation  destroys  the  chief  point  and  force  of 
Christ's  words,  as  a  gracious  reply.  The  petition  was, 
"  Remember  me  when  thou  comest  in  thy  kingdom," 
the  distant  and  unknown  future.  The  answer  assures 
him,  not  alone  of  a  distant  future  remembrance,  but  of 
an  immediate  blessing,  "  To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me 
in  paradise,"  as  a  sure  pledge  of  all  that  he  asks  for 
the  future.  Our  Lord  grants  even  more  than  he  asks, — 
he  shall  enter  to-day  with  Christ  on  a  state  which  is  it- 
self the  pledge  and  the  intermediate  introduction  of  the 
whole  grand  consummation  which  was  asked.  The 
other  explanation,  so  far  as  this  word  is  concerned, 
wholly  misses  this  point  or  any  particular  point.  All 
reference  to  the  actual  request  disappears,  and  that, 
too,  notwithstanding  the  elaborate  solemnity  of  a  double 
assurance.  4.  But  a  decisive  objection  is  found  in  the 
collocation  of  the  Greek.  The  representation  is  some- 
times made,  that,  so  far  as  the  language  is  concerned, 
this  is  a  simple  question  of  punctuation ;  whether  a 
comma  shall  be  put  before  or  after  "  to-day  "  (atjpeQQv). 
This  is  a  mistake.  It  is  a  question  of  Greek  colloca- 
tion under  emphasis.    The  Greek  language  does  not  in- 


206  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

volve  the  ambiguity  which  exists  in  the  English  in  this 
respect.  It  is  admitted  on  both  sides  that  the  oqfieQo* 
(to-day)  is  strongly  emphatic.  Indeed,  this  is  the  only 
justification  which  Mr.  Hudson  can  find  for  his  inter- 
pretation. Very  well,  then.  As  a  strongly  emphatic 
word,  according  to  the  usages  of  the  Greek  language, 
its  position  conclusively  determines  that  it  does  not 
qualify  the  words,  "  I  say,"  but  the  words,  "  thou  shalt 
be  with  me  ; "  the  strongly  emphatic  word  in  any 
clause  preceding  the  less  emphatic.  In  the  Greek,  it 
occupies  precisely  the  position  to  be  the  most  emphatic 
word  of  the  last  clause ;  but  if  transferred  to  the  first 
clause,  to  be  the  least  emphatic  of  the  whole.  And,  as 
both  sides  admit  its  highly  emphatic  character,  the  case 
is  settled.* 

On  this  attempt  to  join  "  to-day  "  with  "  I  say  unto 
thee,"  Alford  strongly  remarks,  "  Considering  that  it 
not  only  violates  common  sense,  but  destroys  the  force 
of  our  Lord's  promise,  it  is  surely  something  worse 
than  silly." 

But  Mr.  Hudson  has,  as  usual,  a  second  resort: 
"  Or  the  term  '  paradise '  may  denote  the  state  of  the 
saints  in  the  under-world."  This  virtually  concedes 
the  point  we  argue.  That  "  state "  was  to  be  at- 
tained "  to-day."  Either,  then,  it  was  to  be  a  state  of 
conscious  well-being,  or  the  promise  of  the  Saviour 
entirely  evaded  the  petition,  and  was  itself  both  mean- 

*  The  Greek  now  reads,  'Afj-rjv  teyu  aot  ar][xepov  juer'  e/xov  lay  ev  r£> 
napadelacj.  Whereas,  if  the  meaning  were  as  Mr.  Hudson  and  others 
claim,it  should  read,  'Afiijv  arj^iepov  aot  Tieyu,  //er*  e/iov  ev  rib  Trapadeiao. 
The  only  exception  to  the  principle  is  when  sometimes  an  emphatic 
word  is  reserved  to  the  end  of  a  clause,  for  the  sake  of  some  appended 
explanation  or  evolution,  which  is  here  not  the  case. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  TEACHINGS.  207 

ingless  and  delusive.  For,  1.  To  promise  a  man  that 
he  shall  be  to-day  in  a  state  either  of  entire  extinction 
or  of  blank  and  indefinitely  prolonged  unconsciousness, 
was  a  singular  boon  to  declare  with  such  solemnity. 
2.  To  describe  an  unconscious  state  as  being  "  in  par- 
adise," a  place  which,  even  in  its  lowest  physical  mean- 
ing, was  a  garden  of  delight,  and  as  "  being  with 
Christ,"  a  phrase  continually  used  to  describe  the  high- 
est blessedness  of  the  saints  in  heaven  (John  xiv.  3  ; 
xvii.  24  ;  2  Cor.  v.  8  ;  1  Thess.  iv.  17  ;  Phil.  i.  23), 
would  be  preposterous.  3.  To  say,  in  answer  to  a  pe- 
tition to  be  remembered  in  glory,  "  I  most  solemnly 
declare  unto  thee  I  will  this  very  day  (or,  on  this  day 
when  it  seems  all  so  unlikely,  I  will)  introduce  thee 
into  a  state  of  extinction,  impaired  mental  activity,  or 
entire  insensibility  to  last  for  some  thousand  years,"  — 
this  would  indeed  be  asking  for  bread,  and  receiving  in 
the  gravest  form  of  mockery  a  stone.  If  paradise  does 
denote  even  the  state  of  the  saints  in  the  under-world, 
it  is  still  paradise,  and  paradise  with  Christ. 

Accordingly,  such  a  writer  as  Archbishop  Whately, 
disdains  all  thes*3  subterfuges,  though  inclining  to  ad- 
vocate an  intermediate  state  of  unconsciousness,  and 
plants  himself  chiefly  on  the  position  that  "  this  case 
is  a  very  peculiar  case,  and  therefore  can  hardly  be 
regarded  as  decisive  as  to  what  shall  be  the  lot  of  other 
men."  He  argues  that  this  man's  faith  was  peculiar 
and  pre-eminent,  as  was  also  the  time  of  his  death, 
occurring  at  the  time  of  Christ's  death,  and  attended 
with  many  miraculous  circumstances.  But  that  there 
was  any  thing  in  either  of  these  facts  to  warrant  the 
slightest  belief,  that,  for  these  reasons,  God  in  his  single 


208  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

instance  broke  through  the  grand  economy  of  his  deal- 
ings with  the' pious  dead,  the  archbishop  does  not  and 
can  not  show..  And  the  man  who  asserts  this  treat- 
ment to  be  different  from  that  of  other  eminent  saints 
is  bound  to  prove  his  point. 

Enough  for  the  present  that  the  penitent  thief  was 
that  day  received  to  blessedness.  Let  his  case  take  its 
place  with  other  evidences. 

Almost  equally  decisive  is  the  case  of  Stephen  (Acts 
vii.  55-60).  As  the  mob  were  about  to  rush  upon  him, 
"  he,  being  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  looked  up  steadfastly 
into  heaven,  and  saw  the  glory  of  God,  and  Jesus 
standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God,  and  said,  Behold, 
I  see  the  heavens  opened  and  the  Son  of  man  standing 
on  the  right  hand  of  God."  The  mob  immediately 
hurried  him  to  the  fatal  spot,  and  there  "  they  stoned 
Stephen,  calling  upon  God,  and  saying,  Lord  Jesus,  re- 
ceive my  spirit."  Now,  who  can  doubt  what  was  the 
expectation  of  this  man,  "full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  who 
had  just  been  looking  straight  into  heaven,  and  seeing 
"  Jesus  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  pod,"  when,  im- 
mediately after,  he  addresses  that  same  Jesus  witli  his 
dying  breath,  and  as  his  body  falls,  prays,  "  Lord  Jesus, 
receive  my  spirit "  ?  Can  there  be  a  reasonable  doubt 
that  he  expected  his  spirit  at  once  to  join  at  God's  right 
hand  that  Saviour  on  whom  he  had  just  been  gazing, 
towards  whom  his  spirit  was  even  then  yearning  with 
ineffable  love,  and  to  whom  he  was  speaking  as  one 
already  in  his  presence  ? 

The  reader  will  not  fail  to  observe  that  the  language 
of  Stephen  is  substantially  the  same  with  that  addressed 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  209 

by  the  Saviour  himself  to  the  Father  at  the  very  mo- 
ment when  his  divine  spirit  passed  from  its  crucified 
jody,  "  Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit " 
(Luke  xxiii.  46).  Stephen  evidently  expected  to  ex- 
perience the  same  immediate  condition  which  Christ 
expected.  Whoever  is  prepared  to  believe  that  he  who 
claimed  to  have  shared  the  glories  of  the  Father  before 
he  "  became  flesh,"  expected,  when  he  laid  down  that 
flesh,  to  be  for  a  time  either  extinct  or  unconscious, 
upon  the  utterance  of  these  words,  can  also  believe 
that  such  was  the  expectation  of  Stephen.* 

4.  The  Scripture  furthermore  teaches  that  spirits  of 
believers  long  since  departed  are  living,  and  with  God. 
"  The  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect"  are  enumer- 
ated in  this  sense  unmistakably  in  Heb.  xii.  23:  "But 

*  In  connection  with  this  passage  (Acts  vii.  59),  a  singular  piece  of  effron- 
tery deserves  mention,  as  showing  the  nourishment  on  which  a  large  portion 
of  the  believers  in  annihilation  are  fed.  It  occurs  in  Ellis  and  Read's  Bible 
vs.  Tradition,  sixth  edition.  The  writer  begins  by  saying,  "  The  grammar 
of  the  text  charges  the  saying,  '  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit,'  upon  the 
wicked  Jews,  and  afterwards  records  what  Stephen  did  and  said."  The 
reader  who  will  examine  the  Greek  text  will  see  at  a  glance  the  astounding 
impudence  of  the  statement;  for  the  Greek  can  by  no  possibility  be  so 
translated  or  interpreted. 

Rut  the  writer  proceeds:  "We  waive  this,  being  willing  to  allow  that 
the  translators  were  fallible,  and  attribute  both  sayings  to  Stephen.  Dexai 
[<te£at]  means  the  right,  hand  being  understood;  metaphorically  it  means 
assistance,  aid,  strength,  courage,  and  is  equal  to  the  expression, '  Lord  Je- 
sus, strengthen  my  spirit,'  or  '  nerve  me  up  to  endurance.'  "  Here  this  writer 
apparently  confounds  even  the  spelling  of  the  Greek  words  (oefwi  and&fat), 
and  mistakes  the  adjective  "  right "  for  the  verb  "  receive  "  in  the  imperative 
mode.  The  error  is  made  additionally  ludicrous  by  his  attempt  to  translate 
a  sentence,  which,  according  to  his  text,  would  admit  no  translation  or  mean- 
ing. It  is  needless  to  add  that  the  verb  moans  "receive;  "  and  that  no  in- 
stance can  probably  be  found  in  the  Greek  language  where  it  even  ap- 
proaches the  meaning  "strengthen."  Ellis  and  Read's  book  is  ui  derstood 
to  be  a  favorite  treatise  with  a  certain  class  of  annihilationists. 
14 


210  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

ye  are  come  unto  Mount  Sion,  and  unto  the  city  of  the 
living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  and  to  an  in nu mo- 
vable company  of  angels,  to  the  general  assembly  and 
ihurch  of  the  first-born  which  are  written  in  heaven, 
and  10  God  the  Judge  of  all,  and  to  the  spirits  of  just 
men  made  perfect,  and  to  Jesus  the  Mediator  of  the 
new  covenant,  and  to  the  blood  of  sprinkling,  which 
speaketh  better  things  than  that  of  Abel." 

The  apostle  is  here  enumerating  the  inviting  and  at- 
tractive features  of  the  Christian's  present  connections 
in  contrast  to  the  terrors  of  the  dispensation  of  law. 
They  are  associated  with  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  and 
all  the  holy,  viz.  (to  follow  in  the  main'  the  excellent 
exposition  of  A2ford),  the  great  host  of  angels,  the 
church  (on  earth)  of  the  first-born  (i.e.  heirs,  see  i.  14) 
who  are  destined  to  life,  and  have  their  names  regis- 
tered in  the  book  of  life  above  (see  Luke  x.  20),  and 
with  God  himself  the  judge  (and  deliverer)  of  all  his 
people,  and  with  the  perfected  spirits  of  the  righteous 
already  ransomed  and  gathered  round  him,  and  with 
Jesus  the  great  Mediator  and  atoning  Saviour. 

For  the  details  of  the  exposition,  we  must  refer  the 
reader  to  the  commentators  (particularly  Alford,  who 
is  very  clear  on  this  passage).  Still  the  intelligent 
reader  will  see,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  language  it- 
self—  "  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect  "  or  con- 
summated, advanced  to  glory — requires  this  as  the  ob- 
vious meaning.  The  apostle  speaks  of  the  just,  not  in 
their  complex  nature,  but  of  their  spirits  :  just  as  in  1 
Cor.  ii.  11,  where  "  the  spirit  of  man  which  is  in  him" 
is  specially  designated  and  distinguished  from  the  whole 
man  ;  and  in  Luke  viii.  55,  where  it  is  said  of  the  dead 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  211 

maiden  restored  to  life  by  Christ,  that  "  her  spirit  came 
again."  In  1  Pet.  iii.  19  also,  by  general  admission,  "  the 
spirits  in  prison"  are  the  disembodied  spirits  in  confine- 
ment. The  same  word  Qtvwiia)  is  a  common  word  to 
designate  those  spirits  that  the  Saviour  cast  out  so 
often, —  spirits  that  had  no  body  of  their  own. 

The  word,  then,  is  carefully  chosen.  But  here  we 
have  the  spirits  of  the  just ;  and  not  only  so,  they  are 
the  just  "  made  perfect  "  (rszehKo^spcov') .  This  is  the 
word  used  by  the  same  writer,  ch.  ii.  10  (comp.  v. 
9),  to  describe  the  advancement  of  Christ  to  glory, — 
"  mp,ke  the  Captain  of  their  salvation  perfect  through 
sufferings," — and,  as  if  to  indicate  clearly  that  it  so  sig- 
nifies in  the  present  instance,  the  very  next  words  in- 
troduce that  glorified  "  Mediator  of  the  new  covenant." 
Were  we  to  translate  the  word  "made  sinless," — which 
is  contrary  to  usage,  and  to  the  fact  that  the  apostle 
speaks  not  of  the  spirits,  but  of  the  just,  as  having  at- 
tained this  condition,  —  we  still  have  a  state  of  things 
belonging  only  to  the  other  world.*  Moreover,  the 
completeness  of  enumeration  clearly  requires  the  in- 
terpretation here  maintained.  We  have  God  and  Christ, 
and  the  angels  and  the  church  of  those  who  are  written 
in  the  book  of  life,  and,  besides  them,  the  spirits  of  the 
just  men  made  perfect.    Now,  in  what  way  can  we  uii- 

*  The  word  reXeioo)  has  for  its  broad  and  radical  meaning  to  consum- 
mate, or  make  complete.  In  the  passive  voice  (as  here),  to  be  consummated 
or  completed,  as,  1.  a  prophecy  in  its  fulfillment  (once  only,  John  xix.  28).  2. 
a  principle  or  power  when  it  is  fully  developed  or  exhibited;  e.g.,  strength, 
love  (2  Cor.  xii.  9;  1  John  ii.  5,  iv.  17;  Jas.  ii.  23).  3.  persons,  when  fully 
attaining  (1)  to  a  goal  in  view,  perhaps  Luke  xiii.  32;  (2)  to  a  character  re- 
quired (Phil.  iii.  12);  (3)  to  a  condition  in  prospect  (John  xvii.  23) — par* 
ticularly  the  condition  of  future  glory  (Heb.  v.  9;  vii.  28). 


212  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

derstand  this  latter  clause,  except  in  the  obvious  and 
simple  way  ?  Accordingly,  though  there  are  some  minor 
diversities  of  connection  and  interpretation,  as,  for  ex- 
ample, on  the  question  whether  these  spirits  are  those 
of  the  Old  or  the  New  Testament  saints,  or  of  both  alike, 
nearly  all  respectable  interpreters,  from  the  Greek  fa- 
thers to  the  present  time,  with  one  accord,  agree  that 
they  are  the  disembodied  souls  of  the  righteous  in 
heaven.  Thus  Calvin  :  "Holy  souls,  which,  having  put 
off  the  body,  have  left  behind  all  the  filth  of  the  flesh," 
and  now  "  live  with  God."  Bengel :  "  Separated  souls," 
who,  "  after  their  own  death,  are  receiving  the  fruit  of 
the  consummation  achieved  by  Christ's  death  and  the 
righteousness  thence  arising."  So  Alford,  De  Wette, 
Ebrard,  Huther,  and  a  large  number  of  the  most  emi- 
nent expositors  quoted  by  them,  and  differing  among 
themselves  only  on  the  point  previously  indicated, — 
whether  these  are  the  spirits  of  the  Old-Testament  or 
the  New-Testament  saints,  or,  as  Alford  and  others 
understand,  both  together. 

Similar  is  the  teaching  of  Heb.  vi.  12,  il  That  ye  be 
not  slothful,  but  followers  of  them  who,  through  faith 
and  patience,  inherit  the  promises.  For  when  G-od 
made  promise  to  Abraham,"  etc.  Two  questions  arise  : 
First,  Who  are  the  persons  referred  to  as  inheriting  ? 
Second,  What  is  meant  by  "  inherit  the  promises  "  ? 
That  the  persons  chiefly  in  view  must  be  those  believ- 
ers who  have  passed  from  this  life  would  appear,  be- 
cause (1)  we  can  be  exhorted  to  be  followers  [imil 
tors]  properly  only  of  those  who  precede  us  ;  .(2)  ao 
but  those  who  have  actually  completed  the  life  of  fi- 
delity, and  gone  to  their  reward,  can  be  properly  held 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  218 

up  for  the  encouragement  of  Christians  still  struggling; 
(3)  the  "  faith  and  patience  "  seem  to  be  mentioned 
as  accomplished  facts  ;  (4)  the  inheritance  of  the  prom- 
ises constitutes  a  difference  between  them  and  the 
still  living  Christians  whom  he  addresses  ;  (5)  and  the 
writer  immediately  proceeds  to  specify  Abraham  as  an 
example  in  his  mind.  What  is  it  to  "  inherit  the  prom- 
ises "  ?  "  The  promise,"  in  the  New  Testament,  very 
often  means  the  thing  promised,  the  fulfillment  of  the 
promise.  Such,  according  to  almost  all  interpreters,  says 
De  Wette,  is  the  meaning  here  (see  Gal.  iii.  22  ;  Acts  i. 
4  ;  Luke  xxiv.  49,  etc.).  To  "  inherit,"  in  the  New 
Testament  commonly  means  to  possess  (by  the  firmest 
title).  These  persons  of  whom  we  are  to  be  follow- 
ers, including  Abraham,  are  described  as  now  inherit- 
ing the  promises.  The  translation  accurately  expresses 
it,  "  who  inherit  the  promises."  The  original  Greek 
does  not  speak  of  men  who  inherited,  or  wrere  to  in- 
herit, or  who  shall  inherit,  but  (with  the  present  tense 
of  the  participle  denoting  primarily,  present,  continu- 
ous action)  "  who  inherit  the  promises  "  (rav  xlrjQovonovv- 
rcov). 

Thus  the  most  obvious  meaning  of  the  passage  is  an 
exhortation  to  imitate  the  faith  and  patience  of  Abra- 
ham' and  believers  like  him,  enforced  by  the  thought 
that  they  are  now  reaping  the  promised  rewards  of 
that  faith  and  patience.  The  only  plausible  objection 
is,  that,  in  Heb.  xi.  39,  it  is  said,  "  And  these  all,  hav- 
ing obtained  a  good  report  through  faith,  received  not 
the  promise,"  etc.  The  objection  is  only  specious. 
This  last  passage  simply  asserts,  that,  during  their  life 
here  below,  they  did  not  receive  the  fulfillment  of  the 


214  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

promise,  that  is,  of  Christ.  The  promise  of  his  coming 
and  redemptive  work  was  not  fulfilled,  as  the  next  verse 
explains,  till  the  times  of  the  apostle,  "  God  having 
provided  some  better  thing  for  us." 

Another  passage,  apparently  announcing  the  imme- 
diate blessedness  of  the  dying  saint,  is  found  in  Rev. 
xiv.  13,  "  Write,  Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the 
Lord  from  henceforth :  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they 
may  rest  from  their  labors  ;  and  their  works  do  follow 
them"  (literally  follow  with  them).  Some  diversity 
of  interpretation  exists  as  to  the  connection  in  the  first 
clause,  —  whether  it  means  blessed  from  henceforth,  or 
blessed  those  who  die  from  henceforth.  De  Wette,  in- 
different to  all  theological  aspects  of  the  case,  and 
viewing  it  merely  as  an  acute  scholar,  understands  it, 
"  Blessed  from  now  onward,"  and  adds,  "  it  would 
promise  them  immediate  blessedness."  The  reason  im- 
mediately rendered  in  the  following  clause  certainly 
seems  decisive,  and  at  least  asserts  the  fact  by  its  own 
force :  "  Yea,  that  they  may  rest  from  their  labors 
[xonav  wearisome,  painful  toils]  ;  and  their  works  do 
follow  with  them."  Such  was  the  blessedness  of  dying 
in  Christ,  —  to  rest  from  vexatious  toils,  and  to  have 
their  works  (i.e.,  by  a  common  metonymy,  the  fruit  or 
reward  of  their  works)  accompanying  them  when  they 
die.  This  is'not  the  description  of  a  state  of  extinc- 
tion or  unconsciousness,  but  of  active  enjoyment.  His 
works  do  not  "  follow  with  "  a  man  lost  to  all  con- 
sciousness. 

To  these  passages  some  would  add  very  positively 
Rev.  vi.  9-11,  though  others  object :  "And,  when  he 
had  opened  the  fifth  seal,  I  saw  under  the  altar  the 


NE  W  TESTAMENT   TEA CHIXGS.  215 

souls  of  them  that  were  slain  for  the  word  of  God,  and 
for  the  testimony  which  they  held  :  and  they  cried  with 
a  loud  voice,  saying,  How  long,  0  Lord  holy  and  true, 
dost  thou  not  judge  and  avenge  our  blood  on  them  that 
dwell  on  the  earth  ?  And  white  robes  were  given  unto 
every  one  of  them  ;  and  it  was  said  unto  them  that 
they  should  rest  yet  for  a  little  season,  until  their  fellow- 
servants  also,  and  their  brethren,  that  should  be  killed 
as  they  were,  should  be  fulfilled."  We  certainly  should 
be  cautious  in  drawing  doctrinal  statements  from  a  pas- 
sage so  highly  figurative.  We  may  freely  admit  that 
the.  location  "  under  the  altar "  is  symbolical,  and 
that  the  prayer  and  the  reply  is  dramatical.  Still  it 
remains  that  the  souls,  or  disembodied  spirits,  of  the 
holy  martyrs  are  here  distinctly  recognized  ;  that  they 
are  spoken  of  as  having  earnest  desires  for  the  consum- 
mation of  their  blessedness  and  of  God's  absolute  reign; 
this,  too,  while  their  murderers  still  "  dwell  upon  the 
earth; "  as  being  meanwhile  clad  in  "  white  robes  "  of 
purity  and  joy  (see  chap.  iii.  4  ;  vii.  13),  and  bid  to 
rest  (i.e.,  as  some  say,  to  restrain  their  petitions,  or, 
as  others,  rest  in  blessedness  —  see  xiv.  13)  till  their 
brethren  are  gathered  with  them.  The  "white  robes  " 
given  to  them  of  course  are  not  literal  garments  ;  but 
they  represent  a  fact:  in  the  words  of  Alford,  "  the  white 
robe,  in  this  book,  is  the  vestment  of  acknowledged  and 
glorified  righteousness  in  which  the  saints  walk  and 
reign  with  Christ,"  and  indicates  that  individually  they 
are  blessed  in  glory  with  Christ,  and  .waiting  for  their 
fellows  to  be  fully  complete." 

The  Scriptures,  secondly,  affirm  the  conscious  exist- 


216  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

ence  of  the  wicked  after  death  and  previous  to  the 
judgment.  The  case  may  be  considered  as  settled  by 
that  of  the  righteous,  unless  it  can  be  positively  shown 
from  the  Scriptures  to  the  contrary.  So  far  from  this, 
however,  the  Scriptures,  as  we  shall  see  directly,  recog- 
nize the  continued  consciousness  of  the  wicked  after 
death  and  before  the  resurrection. 

Judging  by  the  fate  of  the  fallen  angels  also,  we 
should  expect  the  continued  existence  of  lost  men  un- 
til the  judgment.  For  we  are  told  (Jude  6)  that  "  the 
angels  which  kept  not  their  first  estate,  but  left  their 
own  habitation,  he  hath  reserved  in  everlasting  chains 
under  darkness  unto  the  judgment  of  the  great  day ;" 
and  again  (2  Pet.  ii.  4),  that  "  God  spared  not  the  an- 
gels that  sinned,  but  cast  them  down  to  hell,  and  de- 
livered them  into  chains  of  darkness  to  be  reserved 
[being  reserved]  unto  judgment."  They,  then,  though 
cast  down  to  hell,  are  still  reserved  in  chains  unto  the 
judgment.  Others  of  them  apparently  were  indeed  at 
liberty  for  a  time  to  roam  the  world  on  their  work  of 
evil,  but  still  looking  forward  to  a  time  when  they  shall 
be  ordered  into  the  "  abyss  "  ((ipvooov,  Luke  viii.  31), 
and  to  a  "  time  "  of  "  torment  "  (Matt.  viii.  29). 

In  the  same  mode,  and  by  similar  phraseology,  does 
'the  New  Testament  describe  the  immediate  portion  of 
the  wicked.  It  describes  the.  dying  transgressor  as 
passing  to  his  peculiar  place  or  abode,  recognizes  the 
disobedient  of  former  times  as  in  a  state  of  imprison- 
ment and  consciousness,  and  speaks  of  the  immediate 
fate  of  the  dying  sinner  as  at  once  in  "  hell "  and  "  in 
torments,"  even  while  the  living  were  on  earth. 

In  Acts  i.  25,  we  read,   "  That  he  may  take  part  of 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  217 

this  ministry  and  apostleship  from  which  Judas  by 
transgression  fell,  that  he  might  go  to  his  own  place." 
The  statement  implies  a  departure  from  the  position  to 
which  he  did  not  belong,  at  once  to  the  place  that  prop- 
erly belonged  to  him.  Several  diverse  vagaries  have 
been  advanced  as  to  this  place  to  which  Judas  went; 
but  the  best  modern  scholarship  seems  to  agree  on 
that  view  which  suggests  itself  at  once  to  the  common 
reader,  and  which  the  scholarly  rationalist,  De  Wette, 
has  expressed  when  he  says  it  was  his  "  merited  place, 
his  place  of  punishment  in  hell."  So  also  Alford.  So 
Meyer,  "  The  context  requires  us  to  understand  ge- 
henna." 

The  passage,  1  Pet.  iii.  18-20,  bears  still  more  dis- 
tinctly on  this  subject,  where  we  read  of  Christ  "  being 
put  to  death  in  the  flesh,  but  quickened  by  the  Spirit: 
by  which  also,  he  went  and  preached  unto  the  spirits  in 
prison,  which  some  time  [once]  were  disobedient,  when 
once  the  long-suffering  of  God  waited  in  the  days  of 
Noah,  while  the  ark  was  a  preparing,  wherein  few,  that 
is  eight  souls,  were  saved  by  water." 

In  reference  to  this  passage,  there  are  some  -ques- 
tions still  unsettled,  but  with  which  we  have  no  pres- 
ent concern.  The  points  to  which  we  call  attention 
are  somewhat  generally  conceded  by  the  best  modern 
scholarship.  For  the  purposes  of  this  argument,  it  is 
of  no  importance  what  was  the  nature  of  the  preaching, 
nor  perhaps,  even,  whether  it  was  done  by  Christ  in  per- 
son, or  by  Noah  the  preacher  of  righteousness  ;  al- 
though, if  the  more  common  view  of  later  scholars  be 
received,  that  it  was  by  Christ  in  person,  the  case  is 
more  thoroughly  decisive.     It  may  be  considered  as 


218  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

admitted  that  the  persons  here  spoken  of  are  the  diso- 
bedient of  Noah's  time.  It  is  also  settled  that  "  in 
prison  "  means,  what  it  seems  to  mean,  in  a  place  or 
state  of  imprisonment,  penal  confinement.  The  phrases 
"  in  prison  "  and  "  into  prison"  {lv  yvlaxij  and  tig  cpvlaxrjv) 
occur  in  the  New  Testament  twenty-six  times,  invaria- 
bly in  this  sense.  The  Greek  word  (cpvlaxifi  prison  is 
also  used  in  Rev.  xx.  7  to  denote  the  bottomless  pit 
(verse  3)  in  which  Satan  was  to  be  confined.*  And 
the  parties  thus  in  penal  confinement,  in  the  home  of 
the  lost,  are  the  "  spirits  "  (departed  spirits,  De  Wette) 
of  those  once  disobedient  when  the  long-suffering  of 
God  waited,  in  the  time  of  Noah  :  the  word  is  carefully 
chosen,  and  the  statement  clear.  Here,  then,  the  Scrip- 
ture calls  those  who  died  impenitent  in  former  days, 
"  spirits  in  prison  "  or  in  penal  confinement.  If  the 
preaching  was  through  Noah,  then  they  are  spirits  now 
in  confinement ;  if  by  Christ  in  person,  then  they  were 
in  confinement  when  he  went  and  preached  to  them, 
that  is  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

Another  important  passage  is  found  in  the  account 
of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus  (Luke  xvi.  19-31).  The 
entire  passage  should  be  carefully  read  in  connection. 
The  principal  statements,  however,  are  found  in  verses 
22  and  23  :  "  And  it  came  to  pass  that  the  beggar  died, 
and  was  carried  by  the  angels  into  Abraham's  bosom. 
The  rich  man  also  died,  and  was  buried  :  and  in  hell 
he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  being  in  torments,  and  seeth 
Abraham  afar  off,  and  Lazarus  in  his  bosom." 

On  this  passage,  Universalists  and  annihilationists 

*  The  Church  fathers  use  the  word  for  adrjc,  and  the  Syriac  translates 
it sheol{Ve  Wette). 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  219 

alike  have  exhausted  their  ingenuity  to  evade  the  clear 
teachings  which  the  plain  reader  of  the  Bible  and  the 
unprejudiced  scholar  equally  find  in  the  narrative. 

The  question  whether  this  is  a  history  or  a  parable, 
it  is  not  necessary  to  discuss.  In  either  mode,  the 
Scripture  teaches  truth,  —  important  and  often  vital 
truth.  The  chief  difference  is,  that  the  one  mode  as- 
serts what  has  occurred,  the  other  "  what  does  occur." 
Grant  it  to  be  a  parable.  The  notion  that  a  parable 
does  not  convey  important  and  even  definite  truth,  will 
be  maintained  by  no  intelligent  reader  of  the  Bible. 
Thus,  for  example,  some  of  the  most  striking  facts  in 
regard  to  Christ's  kingdom,  its  methods,  progress,  and 
relations,  are  conveyed  in  that  remarkable  group  of 
parables,  —  the  tares  and  wheat,  the  growing  corn,  the 
mustard-seed,  the  leaven,  the  hidden  treasure,  the  costly 
pearl,  the  fisherman's  net.  Dr.  Whately,  while  endeav- 
oring to  cut  down  this  passage  to  the  minimum  of 
teaching,  is  obliged  to  say,  "  The  only  truth  that  is  es- 
sential in  a  parable  is  the  truth  or  doctrine  conveyed  by 
it."*  Mr.  Hudson  not  only  admits  the  same  view, 
but  is  constrained  to  mention  one  doctrine  that  actually 
is  taught  in  this  passage :  "  We  therefore  freely  say, 
that  the  parable,  whatever  it  may  or  may  not  teach, 
assumes  and  implies  a  judgment,  or  some  kind  of  retri- 
bution after  death."  f  Very  well ;  and  now  the  plain 
reader  will  say,  "  If  it  teaches  any  retribution  after 
death,  that  is, if  it,  in  fact, involve  that  truth  at  all,  then  it 
also  involves  with  equal  distinctness  the  statement,  that 
that  retribution  is  one  of  conscious  joy  or  woe,  and 


*  Future  State,  p.  56.  f  Rich  Man  and  Lazarus,  p.  8. 


220  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

commences  at  death."  And  such  a  sharp-sighted  scholar 
and  rationalist  as  De  Wette  perfectly  accords  with  the 
view  of  the  plain  reader :  "  The  rich  man  makes  an 
idle,  self-seeking  use  of  his  property,  which  may  seem 
to  correspond  to  the  '  wasting '  of  verse  1  ;  and  the 
consequence  is,  that  he,  in  return  therefor  (anstatt). 
reaches  the  place  of  torment  (  Qual)  in  the  eternal  fur- 
nace." 

As  various  attempts  have  been  made  to  transfer  the 
plain  meaning  of  this  narrative  to  some  "  abolition  of 
the  Jewish  priesthood,"  and  what  not,  it  is  important 
for  the  reader  to  observe  that  the  connection  itself  pre- 
cludes such  a  perversion,  and  clearly  fixes  the  refer- 
ence to  the  subject  of  individual  retribution  after  death 
for  the  use  or  abuse  of  the  bounties  of  this  life.  Not 
only  have  scholars  like  Alford,  De  Wette,  Olshausen, 
and  others,  pointed  out  the  close  connection  of  this 
passage  with  the  earlier  part  of  the  chapter,  the  stew- 
ardship, but  the  reader  may  see  for  himself  that  one 
connected  subject  runs  through  the  chapter, —  the  right 
or  wrong  use  of  riches,  and  the  consequence  hereafter. 
The  chapter  opens  with  the  parable  of  the  steward, 
who,  being  charged  with  wasting  his  lord's  money,  im- 
mediately set  about  so  skillful  (though  unprincipled) 
an  application  of  it,  that  he  made  friends  for  the  hour 
of  need,  and  that  even  his  master  admired  his  adroit- 
ness ;  closing  with  Christ's  own  injunction  to  his  hear- 
ers so  to  use  their  riches  in  this  life,  that  they  them- 
selves may  be  received  into  "  everlasting  habitations  " 
(verse  9).  The  same  exhortation  and  encouragement 
is  repeated  in  verse  11.  In  verse  13,  he  warns  them 
against  the  attempt  to  idolize  wealth,  to  "  serve  God 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  221 

and  Mammon."  In  verse  14,  we  are  informed  how  the 
Pharisees,  "  who  were  covetous,"  derided  him  for  these 
words  ;  and,  after  three  or  four  intermediate  verses  of 
general  rebuke  for  their  hypocritical  pretenses,  he  pro- 
ceeds to  meet  their  derisive  spirit,  and  crown  his  teach- 
ing with  this  terrible  utterance  on  the  abuse  of  riches. 
The  context  thus  holds  the  passage  fast  to  the  theme 
of  personal  retribution  after  death.  The  offense  of 
the  rich  man  is  not  brought  to  sight  except  in  connec- 
tion with  the  previous  warnings  m  regard  to  the  use 
and  abuse  of  riches. 

Indeed,  certain  Universalist  writers  have  attempted, 
by  cutting  off  the  connection  between  this  passage  and 
the  previous  part  of  the  chapter,  to  deny  that  any 
moral  quality  is  implied  in  the  case  of  the  rich  epicure. 
The  statement  is  not  alone  in  conflict  with  the  whole 
spirit  of  Christ's  teachings  as  to  the  supreme  folly  of 
him  who  "  layeth  up  treasure  for  himself,  and  is  not 
rich  towards  God :  "  it  is  refuted  by  the  previous  full 
teachings  of  this  same  chapter,  and  the  closing  direc- 
tion how  to  escape  the  place  of  woe  by  "  repenting." 
"  They  have  Moses  and  the  prophets  :  let  them  hear 
them."  In  truth,  there  can  be  no  mistaking  the  sketch 
of  the  rich  man,  as  of  a  selfish  sensualist,  absorbed  in 
pampering  his  own  body,  and  leaving  the  poor  and  suf- 
fering Lazarus  to  such  a  living  as  the  dogs  pick  up 
(see  Matt.  xv.  27),  and  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the 
dogs  themselves  (verse  21).  As  the  stress  of  the  pas- 
sage lay  in  its  warning  to  the  evil-doer,  the  moral  char- 
acter of  the  good  Lazarus  is  barely  indicated  by  his 
final  reception  to  the  companionship  of  Abraham,  the 
father  of  the  faithful ;  but  our  Saviour's  explicit  teach- 


222  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

ings  as  to  that  companionship,  and  who  shall  enjoy  it, 
leave  no  doubt  hanging  over  the  case  (see  Matt.  viii. 
11 ;  Luke  xiii.  28,  29). 

The  passage,  then,  teaches,  first  (in  Mr.  Hudson's 
words), "  some  kind  of  retribution  "  to  the  wicked  after 
death.  The  rich  man  "  died  and  was  buried  ;  and  in 
hell  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  being  in  torments. "  To  die, 
then,  is  not  extinction :  it  is  here  the  passage  to  a 
state  of  anguish.  It  teaches,  further,  that  the  retribu- 
tion consists  in  conscious  suffering.  This  fact  lies  all 
along  the  narrative  as  an  emphatic  portion  of  it.  He 
lifted  up  his  eyes  in  hell,  being  in  torments :  "  I  am 
tormented  in  this  flame ;  thou  art  tormented  ;  this 
place  of  torment."  Mr.  Hudson  even  admits  this  mean- 
ing of  the  language,  remarking  that  "  the  torment  of 
the  rich  man  here  described  is  not  that  of  g-ehenna,  but 
that  of  hades."  *  And  the  reader  will  not  fail  to  ob- 
serve, that  the  flame  is  here  beyond  all  question  the 
symbol,  not  of  extinction,  but  of  suffering:  "  I  am  tor- 
mented in  this  flame."  The  passage  teaches,  thirdly, 
that  this  suffering  follows  death  at  once.  (1)  This  is 
the  obvious  connection  of  the  transactions.  The  one 
person  died,  and  was  carried  by  the  angels  into  Abra- 
ham's bosom  :  the  other  died,  and  was  buried ;  and  in 
hell  he  lifted  up  his  eyes.  (2)  The  suffering  was  tak- 
ing place  while  probation  was  continuing  on  earth,  and 
five  brethren  of  the  sufferer  were  still  living.  And  if 
any  one  should  insist  that  this  is  only  dramatic  cos- 
tume, we  add,  that  (3)  The  suffering  is  cotemporaneous 
with  the  joy  of  paradise  ;  and  the  latter,  as  we  have 


*  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  210. 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  223 

shown,  commences  at  once.  Indeed,  it  is  not  only  ad- 
mitted, but  is  strongly  insisted  on,  by  Mr.  Hudson,  that 
the  representation  in  this  passage  u  belongs  to  the  in- 
termediate state  ;  "  that  is,  to  the  immediate  state  of 
the  dead  previous  to  the  resurrection  of  the  body.* 

This  important  passage,  then,  shows  that  the  punish- 
ment of  sin  consists  in  continuous  suffering,  entered 
upon  at  death.  Nowhere  do  the  Scriptures  imply  any 
subsequent  change  of  condition  ;  but  this  very  parable 
affirms  that  "  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed  "  between  the 
sinful  and  the  holy,  which,  as  Mr.  Hudson  admits, "  fairly 
implies  that  the  case  of  the  rich  man  is  hopeless."  f 
He  also  says,  "  The  rich  man  is  there  and  'in  torments,' 
as  if  that  were  '  his  own  place  ; '  while  Lazarus  is  car- 
ried to  Abraham's  bosom,  as  if  that  were  his  proper 
home  :  and  this  would  be  the  just  inference,  if  the 
Scriptures  told  us  nothing  else  concerning  hades  "  J 
This  is  admitting  all  we  ask.  This  passage,  as  a 
whole,  teaches  these  states  of  suffering  and  of  joy  to  be 
the  immediate  and  "  proper  homes  "  respectively  of  the 
wicked  and  the  good.  Let  us  also  add,  that,  as  the 
time  thus  elapsing  prior  to  the  resurrection  of  the  body 
must  in  many  cases  be  many  thousand  years,  all  ar- 
guments against  the  Scripture  doctrine  from  the  long 
duration  of  the  penalty  fall  to  the  ground. 

If  it  be  asked,  with  what  consistency,  while  we  re- 
tain these  teachings  of  the  passage,  we  fail  to  receive 
literally  the  circumstances  of  dipping  the  tip  of  one's 

*  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  210 ;  Christ  our  Life,  p.  131 ;  Rich  Man  and  Laza- 
rus, p.  8. 

t  Rich  Man  and  Lazarus,  p.  8. 

J  lb.,  p.  12.  The  word  occurring  in  Luke  xvi.  23  is  hades,  not  gehenna. 
On  this  subject,  see  Appendix,  note  C. 


224  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

finger  in  water  and  cooling  the  tongue,  the  flame,  the 
lying  in  Abraham's  bosom,  the  gulf,  and  even  the  oral 
communications  between  Abraham  and  the  rich  man, 
we  reply,  1.  The  conditions  of  the  narrative  rule  out 
a  literal  conception  of  these  particulars  by  assigning  it 
to  a  time  when  the  parties  must  have  been  disembodied 
spirits.  They  had  died,  and  been  buried  ;  while  the  liv- 
ing were  supposed  to  be  still  on  earth.  It  was  there- 
fore subsequent  to  death,  and  prior  to  the  resurrection. 
This  fact  determines  the  particulars  to  be  figurative 
representations.  2.  These  modes  of  representation, 
figuratively  employed,  are  common  in  the  Scriptures. 
The  joys  of  heaven  are  the  marriage-supper  of  the 
Lamb  ;  sitting  down  with  Abraham  ;  God  feeding  his 
saints,  leading  them  to  living  fountains,  wiping  away 
their  tears  ;  drinking  from  the  river  of  life.  God  him- 
self, the  bodiless  Spirit,  is  constantly  spoken  of  with 
fingers,  mouth,  and  all  the  portions  of  the  body.  Any 
endeavor  of  Universalist  or  annihilationist  to  set  aside 
the  reference  of  these  teachings  to  the  spirit-world,  be- 
cause of  their  costume,  must  also  annul  most  of  the 
declarations  concerning  God  and  heaven.  3.  Further- 
more, this  mode  of  representation  is  employed  from 
necessity.  We  have  no  language,  nor  modes  of  con- 
ception, with  which  to  speak  of  God  and  heaven  and 
spiritual  beings,  except  the  language  and  conceptions 
drawn  from  earth  and  sense.  The  method  is  inevita- 
ble ;  and  any  argument  founded  upon  it  is,  therefore, 
of  no  account. 

There  is,  therefore,  no  reason  for  rejecting  the  obvi- 
ous teaching  of  this  passage,  that  the  wicked  pass  from 
this  world  at  once  to  a  state  of  conscious  suffering. 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  225 

The  reader  will  appreciate  the  case  more  readily  on 
seeing  some  of  the  conflicting  attempts  of  annihilation- 
ists  to  dispose  of  the  passage,  as  well  as  some  of  their 
reluctant  admissions. 

The  account  of  Lazarus  and  Dives  has  been  as  trou- 
blesome to  annihilationists  as  to  Universalis ts  ;  and 
some  of  the  former  have  borrowed  the  methods  of  the 
latter. 

H.  L.  Hastings  summarily  sets  aside  the  whole  pas- 
sage as  incapable  of  teaching  any  thing  :  "  Of  course  the 
parable  of  the  Rich  Man  and  Lazarus  is  not  reckoned  as 
teaching  doctrine  ;  for  all  the  laws  of  criticism  forbid 
that  parables  be  made  use  of  to  teach  doctrines."  * 
Ellis  and  Read  find,  however,  very  decided  doctrine : 
"  In  this  parable,  the  Jewish  priesthood,  personated  by 
the  rich  man,  died,  the  priesthood  being  abolished ; 
and  while  in  hades,  the  dominion  of  death,  he  saw  [so> 
then,  death  is  not  extinction  of  consciousness]  the  pecu- 
liar privileges  of  the  Abrahamic  covenant  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  formerly  despised  Lazarus,  who  person- 
ated the  Gentiles."  f  These  writers  prudently  refrain 
from  any  remark  on  the  phrases,  "  tormented  in  this 
flame,"  etc.,  except  to  say,  that  inasmuch  as  hades,  in  a 
large  number  of  instances,  denotes  a  "  state  of  death, 
it  would  be  strange  indeed  if  in  our  text  it  should  im- 
ply a  state  of  life  and  torment ; "  and  yet  in  that  very 
state  they  make  the  rich  man  "  see." 

J.  Blain  finds  still  more  abundant  and  curious  doc- 
trine. He  sees  rather  the  political  than  the  ecclesiati- 
cal  condition  of  the  Jews  described,  but  liberally  al- 


*  Pauline  Theology,  p.  40. 
t  Bible  vs.  Tradition,  p.  214. 
15 


226  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

lows  a  choice  of  either  or  both.  He  also,  with  curious 
inconsistency,  finds  protracted  misery  in  the  flames : 
"  The  rich  man  denoted  the  Jewish  nation  or  the 
priesthood,  or  both  combined.  His  death  symbolized 
the  death  (destruction)  of  their  political  and  ecclesi- 
tical  state  :  torment  in  flames  denoted  or  predicted  the 
misery  they  would  endure  as  a  nation.  It  is  a  fact, 
that  they  have  been  in  torment  by  persecution  ever 
since  they  '  died  '  as  a  nation.  Their  looking  to  Abra- 
ham for  relief  may  denote  their  relying  on  the  law  in- 
stead of  on  Christ,  or  grace  through  him.  They  have 
been  '  buried  '  as  to  nationality  and  a  priesthood.  The 
poor  man  symbolized  the  Gentiles  and  publicans,  who 
were  looked  upon  as  'dogs'  by  the  Jews,  and  lay  at,  or 
could  only  come  to  the  '  gate '  of  the  temple  for 
4  crumbs  '  of  light.  '  Abraham's  bosom  '  meant  the 
gospel  church;  and  when  the  Gentiles  '  died,'  or  changed 
their  former  sickly  state,  they  were  not  buried  as  were 
the  Jews,  but  '  carried  by  angels '  (messengers)  into 
the  gospel  church.  Peter  and  Paul  were  special  '  an- 
gels '  to  thus  transport  them."  *  In  this  sad  jumble, 
besides  denying  his  own  principle  as  to  the  office  of 
the  flames,  the  writer  makes  Abraham  denote,  first  the 
law,  and  then  the  gospel  church  ;  while  death  at  first 
denotes  "  destruction,"  and  again  the  "  changing  of 
their  former  sickly  state  "  for  a  sound  one. 

Mr.  Edwin  Burnham  gets  so  far  as  to  locate  the 
scene  apparently  after  death,  and  before  the  judgment; 
but  he  can  see  in  it  only  "  some  transaction."  "  The 
parable  of  the  Rich  Man  and  Lazarus  proves  nothing 

*  Death  not  Life,  p.  68. 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  227 

to  the  point  of  eternal  torment ;  for  that  parable  refers 
to  some  transaction  before  the  judgment."  * 

George  Storrs  discerns  a  little  more  than  "  some 
transaction  "  after  death.  He  admits  hypothetically 
that  it  teaches  suffering :  "  Suppose  the  rich  man  to 
be  actually  in  a  conscious  state  after  death,  and  in  tor- 
ment: it  does  not  prove  him  immortal,  or  that  his  con- 
scious suffering  is  to  be  eternal ;  for  the  advocates  of  the 
immortality  of  man  admit  that  the  state  of  the  rich  man 
spoken  of  was  immediately  after  death,  and  before  the 
day  of  judgment.  Hence,  whatever  his  state  is  now,  it 
is  not  his  proper  punishment ;  that  may  be  utter  anni- 
hilation, for  all  there  is  in  the  text  to  prove  the  con- 
trary :  he  has  not  yet  passed  the  judgment.  When  he 
has,  then  comes  the  real  punishment,  and  the  Scrip- 
tures elsewhere  must  determine  what  it  is.  We  have 
positive  testimony  that  the  wages  of  sin  is  death."  f 
But  the  writer  apparently  admits,  in  these  very  sen- 
tences, the  fact  of  conscious  suffering  "  after  death." 

Dr.  Whately  finds  retribution  "  very  plainly  "  im- 
plied in  this  passage  :  "  It  seems  to  imply,  indeed  very 
plainly,  that  there  is  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  pun- 
ishments, .  .  .  and  also  that  those  who  have  been  de- 
voted to  the  good  things  and  enjoyments  of  this  world 
will  have  no  share  in  those  of  the  world  to  come,  and 
will  regret  when  it  is  too  late  their  not  having  laid  up 
for  themselves  treasure  in  heaven."  %    This  is  certainly 


*  Anti-Eternal  Torment,  p.  5. 

t  Storrs's  Six  Sermons,  p.  164.  Mr.  Storrs  promises  sonn  fuller  diBcns- 
lion;  but  this  is  all  we  find  in  two  of  his  works. 

%  We  reckon  Dr.  Whately  in  this  connection  because  his  entire  mode  of 
putting  the  case  is  to  question  the  received  doctrine. 


228  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

a  mild  mode  of  interpreting  the  passage,  but  yields 
the  principle. 

Mr.  Hudson  is  at  first  constrained  to  admit  every 
thing  we  claim  concerning  the  passage  ;  and  then,  in 
one  of  his  later  treatises  (the  Rich  Man  and  Lazarus), 
lie  retracts  it  all  with  his  favorite  prolepsis  and  "  dra- 
matic "  element.  He  indeed  strenuously  asserts  that 
the  transaction  is  in  hades  rather  than  gehenna.  He 
admits  that  it  takes  place  after  death,  "  in  the  interme- 
diate state,"  and  is  a  "  retribution  ;  "  that  it  "  implies 
that  the  rich  man's  case  is  hopeless ;  "  that  "  the  rich 
man  is  there  and  in  '  torments,'  as  if  that  were  '  his 
own  place  ; '  while  Lazarus  is  carried  to  Abraham's 
bosom,  as  if  that  were  his  proper  home  :  and  this  would 
be  the  just  inference  if  the  Scriptures  told  us  nothing 
else  of  hades."  *  Then,  after  spending  four  pages  in 
elucidating  the  difference  between  hades  and  gehenna,  he 
suddenly  sets  aside  his  whole  discussion  by  one  of  his  exe- 
getical  somersets,  and  declares  that  it  really  refers  not  to 
the  intermediate  state  at  all,- but  to  the  final  judgment: 
"  How  then  shall  we  explain  the  drapery  which  in  Luke 
xxi.  is  thrown  around  the  intermediate  state,  making 
it  look  so  much  like  a  world  of  retribution  ?  I  think 
there  is  an  easy  solution  of  this  difficulty,  without  re- 
gard to  the  question  of  consciousness  or  unconscious- 
ness in  the  disembodied  soul.  It  is  simply  this  :  The 
final  judgment  is  anticipated.  This  anticipation  may 
be  either  actual  in  the  expectant  thoughts  and  feelings 
of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus  ;  or  it  may  be  dramatic, 
transferred  to  the  dead  from  the  thoughts  of  the  liv- 

*  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  210;  Christ  our  Life,  p.  131;  Rich  Man  and  Laza- 
rus, pp.  8,  seq. 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  229 

ing."  *  We  care  not  to  follow  this  tortuous  course  of 
exposition  and  argument,  except  to  call  attention  to  its 
admissions  concerning  the  plain  teaching  of  this  whole 
passage. 

H.  H.  Dobney  unequivocally  admits  all  that  we  claim  : 
u  Our  Lord  shows  an  ungodly  man  in  a  state  of  wretch- 
edness after  death.  How  long  it  would  last  is  not  in- 
timated. It  is  true,  there  was  no  hope  for  him.  He 
could  not  buoy  himself  up  with  the  prospect  of  restora- 
tion. But  whether  that  torment  should  endure  for 
ever,  or  would  ultimately  destroy  him,  the  parable  does 
not  intimate.  It  teaches  a  terrible  and  hopeless  state 
for  the  wicked  after  death  ;    and  that  is  all."  f 

And  that  is  all  we  are  at  present  seeking  to  prove, — 
"  a  state  of  wretchedness  after  death,"  immediately  con- 
sequent upon  it ;  and  whether  we  look  at  the  plain  as- 
pect of  the  passage  itself,  at  the  discordant  perversions 
of  one  class  of  annihilationists,  or  the  reluctant  admis- 
sions of  another  class,  the  case  is  a  clear  one. 

The  fact  that  the  wicked  are  in  a  state  of  suffering 
after  death,  and  prior  to  the  judgment,  is  also  clearly 
taught  in  2  Pet.  ii.  9  :  "  The  Lord  knoweth  how  to  de- 
liver the  godly  out  of  temptation,  and  to  reserve  the 
unjust  under  punishment  unto  the  day  of  judgment." 
Such  is  the  correct  translation,  rendered  in  the  Eng- 
lish version  u  to  be  punished."  So  Alford  most  de- 
cidedly, and  Huther  ;  while  Winer,  who  took  the  other 
view  in  the  fifth  edition  of  his  grammar,  seams  to  have 
abandoned  it  in  the  sixth.     The  Greek  does  not  fairly 


*  Rich  Man  and  Lazarus,  p.  12. 

t  Dobney's  Future  Punishment,  p.  239. 


230  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

admit  any  other  rendering.*  Says  Alford,  "  under 
punishment,  not  to  be  punished,  but,  as  in  verse  4, 
actually  in  a  penal  state,  and  thus  awaiting  their  final 
punishment." 

We  think  we  have  sufficiently  maintained  from  Scrip- 
ture the  continued  consciousness  of  both  the  righteous 
and  the  wicked  after  death,  and  previous  to  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body,  —  the  one  in  conscious  joy,  the 
other  in  conscious  suffering. 

*  'kdiKOvg  6e  etc  qfxspav  Kplaeug  KoXa^o/xivovc  njpelv,  literally  M  to  re- 
serve the  ungodly,  being  punished,  to  the  day  of  judgment." 


CHAPTER    IV. 

NEW  TESTAMENT  TEACHINGS  CONTINUED. — A  RESURRECTION 
AND  A  JUDGMENT  FOR  THE  WICKED. 

ri~!HE  souls  of  both  the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  it 
JL  appears,  enter  at  death  upon  a  conscious  state  of 
happiness  and  of  suffering  respectively.  The  event 
called  death,  is  to  the  wicked,  not  the  termination  of 
existence  or  of  consciousness,  but  the  beginning  of 
conscious  retributive  suffering. 

This  does  not  prove,  indeed,  their  eternal  existence : 
it  is  not  adduced  for  that  purpose.  But  it  does  dis- 
prove one  important  position  of  the  theory  of  annihila- 
tion. The  dead,  as  we  call  them,  still  live.  They  ex- 
perience a  continued  existence  and  activity  beyond  the 
grave,  —  an  existence  continued  certainly  to  a  very 
protracted  extent.  If  continued  till  the  resurrection, 
then  it  must  be  in  many  instances  for  some  thousand 
years.  Such  a  fact  is  of  itself  sufficient  to  invalidate 
the  fundamental  reasonings  of  annihilationists. 

But  the  Scripture  does  not  leave  the  subject  thus : 
it  makes  further  disclosures  concerning  their  future 
history.  The  next  step  in  these  disclosures  is  the 
Scripture  doctrine  concerning  the  resurrection  and  the 
general  judgment,  and  the  formal  sentence  of.  retribu- 
tion, in  which  the  wicked  as  well  as  the  good  will  ap- 
pear. 

231 


232  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

It  is  the  clear  doctrine  that  full  and  final  sentence  of 
retribution  takes  place  at  the  general  judgment,  that  the 
judgment  is  preceded  by  a  general  resurrection  of  "  all 
that  are  in  their  graves,"  and  that  this  last  event  ac- 
companies the  second  coming  of  our  Lord  with  power 
and  great  glory.*  The  spirit  then  resumes  the  bodily 
form. 

For  those  who  read  and  submit  to  the  plain  teach- 
ings of  God's  word,  it  can  not  be  necessary  for  me  to 
argue  at  great  length,  that  all  men,  the  wicked  as  well 
as  the  good,  are  to  be  raised  from  the  dead,  and  to  stand 
in  judgment  before  God.  Still  a  brief  sketch  of  those 
teachings  may  be  in  place. 

And,  first,  of  the  judgment  and  retribution.  It  is 
even  a  teaching  of  the  Old  Testament,  though  less  mi- 
nute than  the  New,  that  the  wicked  and  the  good  alike 
shall  stand  before  God  in  judgment.  Such  is  especially 
the  drift  of  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes,  as  indicated,  for 
example,  in  chap.  iii.  16,  17,  xi.  9,  and  conclusively 
summed  up  in  chap.  xii.  13,  14.  The  thought  is 
more  or  less  distinctly  alluded  to  in  numerous  passages 
like  Ps.  i.  5,  6,  although  often  in  such  a  mode,  that 
we  can  not  say  certainly  that  the  final  judgment  is  in- 
tended. 

It  was  reserved  for  the  New  Testament  to  reveal  the 
fact  in  its  fullness,  that  "  after  death,"  at  the  "  last 
day,"  the  "  day  of  judgment,"  when  "  the  Son  of  man 
shall  come  in  the  clouds  of  heaven,"  all  the  dead  alike 
shall  stand  before  him  to  receive  their  sentence. 

*  The  question,  whether  there  is  a  literal  and  bodily  "  first  resurrection  " 
of  the  holy  previous  to  tht  general  resurrection  of  all  the  dead,  is  not  ma- 
terial to  the  present  discussion,  and  is  therefore  omitted.  The  simple  fact 
of  a  universal  resurrection  is  all  that  here  concerns  us. 


NEW  TESTAMENT    TEACHINGS.  233 

Thus  it  is  after  death,  not  at  death  nor  in  death,  that 
judgment  and  a  final  retribution  come.  "  It  is  ap- 
pointed unto  men  once  to  die,  but  after  this  the  judg- 
ment"  (Heb.  ix.  27).  "  Be  not  afraid  of  them  that 
kill  the  body,  and  after  that  have  no  more  that  they 
can  do.  But  I  will  forewarn  you  whom  ye  shall  fear  : 
fear  Him,  which,  after  he  hath  killed,  hath  power  to  cast 
into  hell ;  yea,  I  say  unto  you,  fear  him  "  (Luke  xii. 
4,5). 

The  particular  time  is  designated  as  the  last  day, 
the  time  when  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  ;  and  at  that 
time  the  foes  of  Christ  as  well  as  his  friends  shall  re- 
ceive their  sentence.  "  He  that  rejecteth  me,  and 
receiveth  not  my  words,  hath  one  that  judge th  him : 
the  word  that  I  have  spoken,  the  same  shall  judge  him 
in  the  last  day  "  (John  xii.  48).  "  Or  what  shall  a 
man  give  in  exchange  for  his  soul  ?  For  the  Son  of 
man  shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his  Father,  with  his  an- 
gels ;  and  then  shall  he  reward  every  man  according  to 
his  works  "  (Matt.  xvi.  26,  27).  "  Whosoever  shall  con- 
fess me  before  men,  him  shall  the  Son  of  man  also  con- 
fess before  the  angels  of  God  ;  but  he  that  denieth  me 
before  men  shall  be  denied  before  the  angels  of  God ' 
(Luke  xii.  8,  9).     See  also  Jude  13,  and  2  Pet.  iii.  7. 

To  this  day  of  judgment  are  all  transgressors  re- 
served ;  and  then  shall  they,  as  well  as  the  righteous, 
receive  their  public  sentence.  "  For  if  God  spared  not 
the  angels  that  sinned,  but  cast  them  down  to  hell,  and 
delivered  them  into  chains  of  darkness,  to  be  reserved 
unto  judgment;  .  .  .  the  Lord  knoweth  how  to  deliver 
the  godly  out  of  temptations,  and  to  reserve  the  unjust 
unto  the  day  of  judgment  to   be    [being]    punished  " 


234  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

(2  Pet.  ii.  4,9).  "  And  whosoever  shall  not  receive  you 
nor  hear  your  words,  when  ye  depart  out  of  that  house 
or  city,  shake  off  the  dust  of  your  feet.  Verily  I  say 
unto  you,  it  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  the  land  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah  in  the  day  of  judgment  than  for 
that  city  "  (Matt.  x.  14,  15).  In  like  manner,  the  sen- 
tence of  Chorazin,  Bethsaida,  Tyre,  Sidon,  Capernaum, 
Sodom,  is  referred  to  "the  day  of  judgment"  (Matt, 
xi.  20-23).  "I  say  unto  you,  that  every  idle  word 
that  men  shall  speak,  they  shall  give  account  thereof 
in  the  day  of  judgment.  For  by  thy  words  thou  shalt 
be  justified,  and  by  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  condemned  " 
(Matt.  xii.  36,  37).  "  But  now  commandeth  all  men 
everywhere  to  repent;  because  he  hath  appointed  a 
day,  in  the  which  he  will  judge  the  world  in  righteous- 
ness by  that  man  whom  he  hath  ordained  "  (Acts  xvii. 
30,  31).  "For  we  must  all  appear  before  the  judg- 
ment-seat of  Christ,  that  every  one  may  receive  the 
things  done  in  his  body,  according  to  that  he  hath  done, 
whether  it  be  good  or  bad  "  (2  Cor.  v.  10,  11).  The 
twofold  retribution  so  fully  described  in  the  second 
chapter  of  Romans  is  referred  to  "  the  day  when  God 
shall  judge  the  secrets  of  men  by  Jesus  Christ  "  (verse 
16) ;  and  it  is  said  to  the  wicked,  "  But  after  thy  hardness 
and  impenitent  heart  treasurest  [thou]  up  unto  thy- 
self wrath  against  the  day  of  wrath  and  revelation  of 
the  righteous  judgment  of  God."  In  2  Tim.  iv.  1,  we 
read  of  "the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  shall  judge  the 
quick  and  the  dead  at  his  appearing  and  his  kingdom." 
The  solemn  account  of  the  judgment  (Matt.  xxv.  3 1-48), 
describing  it  as  taking  place  "  when  the  Son  of  man 
shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all  the  holy  angels  with 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  235 

him,"  also % declares  that  "  before  him  shall  be  gathered 
all  nations,"  and  represents  the  wicked  as  being  present 
with  the  righteous  to  receive  their  final  sentence.  In 
2  Thess.  i.  5-10,  the  recompense,  "  tribulation,"  "  tak- 
ing vengeance,"  and  punishment  "  with  everlasting  de- 
struction from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,"  is  made 
cotemporaneous  with  the  recompense  of  "  rest  "  to  be- 
lievers ;  and  both  are  assigned  to  the  time  "  when  the 
Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven  with  his 
mighty  angels,"  —  "  when  he  shall  come  to  be  glorified 
in  his  saints." 

It  is  needless  to  accumulate  other  proofs  ;  for  if 
these  do  not  show  that  at  the  last  day,  the  day  of  final 
judgment, "the  day  of  Christ's  coming  in  glory,  all  the 
wicked  as  well  as  the  good  will  stand  before  him  in 
conscious  activity  to  receive  public  sentence,  nothing 
can  show  it. 

The  Scriptures  also  declare  a  general  resurrection, 
in  which  the  wicked  as  well  as  the  good  shall  come  forth 
from  their  graves  preparatory  to  the  judgment :  "  Mar- 
vel not  at  this  :  for  the  hour  is  coming,  in  the  which  all 
that  are  in  the  graves  shall  hear  his  voice,  and  shall 
come  forth, —  they  that  have  done  good,  unto  the  resur- 
rection of  life  ;  and  they  that  have  done  evil,  unto  the 
resurrection  of  damnation"  (John  v.  28,29).  These 
are  the  words  of  Jesus  Christ.  They  are  uttered  as 
the  sequel  of  the  statement,  that  "  authority  to  execute 
judgment"  is  committed  to  the  Son  of  man  ;  and  the 
whole  as  the  grand  climax  of  the  great  work  which  he 
was  then  performing  on  earth.  They  describe  the  resur- 
rection of  the  wicked  in  the  same  terms  with  that  of  the 
righteous.    To  leave  no  room  for  doubting  that  the  res- 


236  LIFE    AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

urrcction  of  the  body  is  intended,  he  says,  ".They  that 
are  in  the  graves  "  [or  tombs].  To  anticipate  a  low 
modern  cavil,  that  they  shall  be  brought  forth  as  dead 
persons  or  corpses,  he  declares  "  they  shall  hear  his 
voice,  and  shall  come  forth."  To  cut  off  the  allegation 
that  a  transient  or  momentary  revivification  is  described, 
he  announces  it  as  only  preliminary  to  the  execution 
of  judgment ;  and,  in  case  of  the  wicked,  it  is  here  not 
even  a  resurrection  of  death,  but  of  condemnation, 
"  damnation."  All  attempts  to  pervert  this  passage 
from  its  plain  meaning  may  be  considered  as  now  ex- 
ploded. No  respectable  commentator,  of  whatever 
school,  can  probably  now  be  found  to  lend  his  name  to 
them. 

The  bodily  resurrection  of  the  wicked  is  also  implied 
very  fully  and  unquestionably  in  Christ's  warning : 
"  Fear  not  them  which  kill  the  body,  but  are  not  able 
to  kill  the  soul ;  but  rather  fear  him  which  is  able  to 
destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  hell  "  (Matt.  x.  28). 
Paul  asserts  the  same  fact,  "  And  have  hope  toward 
God,  which  they  themselves  also  allow,  that  there  shall 
be  a  resurrection  of  the  dead,  both  of  the  just  and  un- 
just "  (Acts  xxiv.  15).  Here  he  uses  the  same  words 
to  express  the  resurrection  of  the  righteous  and  the 
wicked  ;  and  it  will  be  observed  that  he  testifies  dis- 
tinctly that  this  was  alike  his  own  belief  and  that  of 
his  Jewish  opponents.  This  statement  is  in  such  terms 
as  to  admit  no  cavil.  It  is  met,  so  far  as  we  can  learn, 
only  by  open  denial.  Thus  to  quote  from  one  who, 
though  an  annihilationist,  yet  argues  for  the  resurrec- 
tion, and  represents  the  reasoning  of  his  associates,  as 
follows  :  "  It  is  said  Paul  hoped  for  the  resurrection  of 


NEW  TESTAMENT    TEACHINGS.  237 

the  dead.  Hope  is  made  up  of  desire  and  expectation. 
Could  Paid  desire  to  see  the  wicked  all  in  one  vast 
company,  weeping,  wailing,  crying  for  mercy,  and 
mercy  deaf  to  all  their  sorrows,  anguish,  and  despair? 
Could  he  desire  to  listen  to  the  curses  and  blasphemies, 
and  witness  the  rolling  sea  of  wickedness,  that  would 
pour  forth  from  all  the  resurrected  wicked  in  that  day  ? 
Certainly  not."  *  This  matter  may  be  left  to  be  settled 
between  these  reasoners  and  the  apostle. 

The  same  fact  is  involved  in  the  passage  (Rev.  xx. 
11-15)  :  "  And  I  saw  a  great  white  throne,  and  him 
that  sat  on  it,  from  whose  face  the  earth  and  the  heaven 
fled  away ;  and  there  was  found  no  place  for  them. 
And  I  saw  the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand  before  God; 
and  the  books  were  opened ;  and  another  book  was 
opened,  which  is  the  book  of  life  :  and  the  dead  were 
judged  out  of  those  things  which  were  written  in  the 
books  according  to  their  works.  And  the  sea  gave  up 
the  dead  which  were  in  it ;  and  death  and  hell  [hades'] 
delivered  up  the  dead  which  were  in  them ;  and  they 
were  judged,  every  man  according  to  their  works.  And 
death  and  hell  [hades']  were  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire. 
This  is  the  second  death.  And  whosoever  was  not 
found  written  in  the  book  of  life  was  cast  into  the  lake 
of  fire."  Here  the  reader  will  observe,  1.  The  scene 
described  is  clearly  the  general  judgment.  Various 
circumstances  fully  identify  it  with  that  transaction  as 
elsewhere  described.  2.  It  is  preceded  by  a  universal 
resurrection  of  the  body.     It  is  "  the  dead,  small  and 

*  H.  L.  Hastings's  Retribution,  p.  143.  Three  other  forms  of  denial 
nre  quoted  by  him  from  other  advocates  of  annihilation,  still  m)re  abrupt 
if  possible;  but  no  attempt  to  interpret  away  the  language. 


238  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

great ; "  those  in  "  the  sea,"  and  those  elsewhere  in 
charge  of  "  death  and  hades  ;  "  *  men  of  diverse  char- 
acters, to  be  judged,  "  every  man  according  to  their 
works."  Not  only  the  good  were  there,  those  whose 
names  were  in  the  book  of  life,  but  those  who  were 
"  not  found  written  in  the  book  of  life  "  were  there 
also. 

As  the  reader  may  like  to  know  what  objections  are 
raised  against  such  a  passage  by  a  portion  of  the  anni- 
hilationists, — the  more  materialistic  portion, — we  an- 
nex them  as  stated  by  H.  L.  Hastings,  who  represents 
a  different  phase  of  the  system. f     It  is  alleged,  — 

1.  The  passage  "  is  in  Revelation,  and  Revelation  is 
an  obscure  book."  To  which  we  need  only  say  that, 
whatever  may  be  the  obscurity  of  any  other  portion  of 
the  book,  this  is  a  distinct  account  of  the  general  judg- 
ment, fully  confirmed  and  explained  by  abundant  other 
passages  of  Scripture. 

2.  "  The  whole  is  a  dramatic  representation."  But 
this  statement  when  intended  as  a  denial  of  the  resur- 
rection of  the  wicked,  would  cut  up  the  whole  doctrine 
of  a  future  life ;  for  this  passage  declares  as  clearly 
as  any  portion  of  the  Scriptures,  the  great  fact  of  a 
judgment  and  a  just  retribution.  It  is  here  stated  just 
as  distinctly  concerning  the  wicked  dead  as  concerning 
the  good,  that  "  they  stand  before  God  "  to  be  judged 
and  doomed. 

3.  "  It  is  said  that  the  dead  stood  before  God,  and 

*  "Hades"  maybe  considered  as  the  impersonation  of  the  grave,  the 
place  of  the  dead;  "  death,"  already  personified  as  riding  on  the  pale  horse, 
perhaps  as  the  keeper  or  ruler  of  the  realm.  All  the  dead  of  the  ocean  and 
the  land  are  there. 

|  Retribution,  by  H.  L.  Hastings,  pp.  119,  120. 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  239 

were  judged,  and  so  they  were  dead  when  they  were 
judged;  and  hence  they  will  never  know  any  thing 
about  the  matter,  nor  undergo  any  further  conscious 
punishment,  but  will  simply  be  left  alone  in  the  grave 
where  they  are."  We  will  not  delay  to  dwell  upon 
Christ's  declaration,  "  They  that  are  in  their  graves 
shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  shall  come 
forth,"  nor  upon  the  fact  that  "  the  dead "  here  in- 
cludes both  classes  alike ;  foi  it  is  hardly  supposablo 
that  a  man  who  could  descend  to  such  egregious  trifling 
with  God's  Word  is  to  be  satisfied,  and  have  his  quib- 
bles silenced,  by  any  forms  of  speech. 

4.  "  Those  found  written  in  the  book  of  life  are  made 
alive,  but  those  who  are  not  found  written  there  do  not 
live  nor  know  nor  suffer  ;  but,  if  they  are  raised  at  all, 
they  are  simply  so  many  lumps  of  clay,  images,  or  car- 
casses, not  raised  '  to  life,'  but  raised  '  without  any  life.'  " 
No  reply  is  called  for  here.  Waiving  those  other  rep- 
resentations which  describe  the  conscious  state  of  the 
wicked  at  the  judgment,  any  man  who  could  allege 
that  the  Scriptures  describe  the  judgment-scene  as  in- 
cluding the  solemn  mockery  of  summoning,  by  a  vast 
miracle,  millions  of  unconscious  corpses  before  God  to 
be  tried,  and  sentenced,  and  executed  with  the  forms 
of  punishment,  will  not  be  likely  to  have  his  opinion 
changed  by  argument  or  Scripture. 

5.  "It  is  finally  said  that  wicked  men  can  not 
die  a  second  time,  and  hence  the  *  second  death '  is 
a  mere  figure,  which  means  no  one  knows  what ;  be- 
cause it  is  said  that  death  and  hell  died  the  second 
death  too,  and  there  is  no  account  of  their  having  died 
a  first  death  before."     Here,  again,  we  waive  all  other 


240  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

discussion  simply  to  remind  the  reader  that  the  objec- 
tion, in  short,  is  just  this  :  We  deny  the  plainly  asserted 
fact  of  a  resurrection  of  the  wicked,  because  we  are 
puzzled  as  to  the  nature  of  the  punishment  described 
as  following  their  resurrection  and  judgment. 

The  doctrine  of  a  general  resurrection  of  both  classes 
of  men  is  even  declared  in  the  Old  Testament.  "And 
at  that  time  shall  Michael  stand  up,  the  great  prince 
which  standeth  for  the  children  of  thy  people  ;  and 
'  there  shall  be  a  time  of  trouble,  such  as  never  was  since 
there  was  a  nation  even  to  that  time ;  and  at  that  time 
thy  people  shall  be  delivered,  every  one  that  shall  be 
found  written  in  the  book.  And  many  of  them  that 
sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth  shall  awake,  some  to 
everlasting  life,  and  some  to  shame  and  everlasting 
contempt.  And  they  that  be  wise  shall  shine  as  the 
brightness  of  the  firmament ;  and  they  that  turn  many 
»  to  righteousness,  as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever  "  (Dan. 
xii.  1-3).  This  passage  appears  to  be  a  glance  down 
to  the  "  time  of  the  end,"  which  is  specified  in  the 
verse  following ;  and  announces  the  resurrection  of 
two  classes  of  men,  that  "  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the 
earth,"  to  two  opposite  destinies.  On  this  point  the 
sober  class  of  modern  scholars  are  apparently  becom- 
ing agreed  ;  e.g.,  Alford  (on  John  v.  29),  Stuart,  Hii- 
rvernick,  Auberlen.  Even  such  rationalists  as  Maurer 
and  Hitzig,  though  endeavoring  to  refer  it  to  an  earlier 
period,  admit  the  fact  of  a  twofold  resurrection  to  be 
here  asserted  ;  and  "  the  book  "  (verse  1),  to  be  the 
"  book  of  life,"  "  the  list  of  the  citizens  of  the  Messi- 
anic kingdom  "  (Hitzig).  The  second  verse  would 
perhaps  be  more  correctly  translated,  "multitudes  of 


NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.     •  241 

sleepers  in  the  dust  of  the  earth  shall  awake."  *  Those 
who,  like  Hitzig,  insist  on  the  partitive  force  of  "  many," 
limit  the  resurrection  here  spoken  of  to  the  Jewish  na- 
tion. But  even  this  narrowed  application  still  leaves 
the  parties  divided  into  two  opposite  classes,  the  second 
of  whom,  in  Hitzig's  own  words,  "  arise  to  judgment 
(John  v.  29),  awake  to  the  punishment  of  eternal  fire- 
torment  (compare  Isa.  lxvi.  24  with  Rev.  xx.  14, 15), 
and  become,  by  this  their  fate,  an  object  of  abhor- 
rence." f 

In  view  of  the  clear  teachings  of  Scripture,  espe- 
cially the  New  Testament,  concerning  the  resurrection 
and  the  judgment,  Mr.  H.  L.  Hastings,  himself  an  an- 
nihilationist,  warmly  declares,  "  The  same  perverse 
logic  which  proves  no  resurrection  of  the  wicked,  proves 
no  resurrection  of  any  one,  no  pre-existence  of  Christ 
before  his  birth,  no  Holy  Spirit  but  the  Word,  no  bap- 
tism but  the  Spirit,  no  Lord's  Supper,  no  future  pun- 
ishment, no  second  coming  of  Christ,  no  inspired  rev- 
elation ; "  J  and  another  writer  of  the  same  school  de- 
clares, "  The  method  of  interpreting  Scripture  on 
which  this  theory  depends  unsettles  all  faith  in  the 
Bible,  and  saps  the  foundations  of  Christianity."  § 

This  fact,  then,  is  settled.     Not  only  do  the  wicked 


*  Stuart  and  others  take  the  Hebrew  E^l  as  equivalent  to  the  6t  ■koTJ^l 
of  Rom.  v.  15,  17,  and  meaning  multitudes,  the  mass.  Reference  to  other 
passages  is  hardly  necessary  if  we  carefully  translate  our  text,  which  con- 
tains neither  article  nor  relative  corresponding  to  the  English  "  them  that." 
Very  literally,  it  reads  thus :  "  Manies  [or  multitudes]  of  sleeping  [one?]  of 
earth's  dust  shall  arise." 

f  See  note  D,  Appendix. 

%  H.  L.  Hastings's  Retribution,  p.  150. 

§  Bible  Examiner,  quoted  ib. 
16 


242  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

as  well  as  the  good  consciously  exist  after  the  death  of 
the  body,  but  their  history  can  be  followed  to  the  re- 
surrection and  the  judgment-day. 

Thus,  after  the  dissolution  and  slumber  of  ages,  by 
the  grandest  display  of  miraculous  power  which  the 
world  will  have  witnessed,  acting  instantaneously  at 
every  portion  of  the  earth's  surface,  all  human  beings, 
the  wicked  as  well  as  the  good,  will  be  re-instated  in 
the  full  condition  in  which  they  wrought  their  works 
of  holiness  or  sin.  Why,  now,  this  amazing  prepara- 
tion ?  Is  this  grandest  of  God's  miracles,  so  far  as 
the  wicked  are  concerned,  a  mere  abortive  flourish  ? 
or  is  it  the  actual  preparation  for  some  proportionate 
result  ?  The  body  had  gone  to  dissolution.  So  also, 
according  to  these  theorists,  was  the  soul  extinct,  at 
least  unconscious.  The  threatened  death  had  done  its 
work.  The  penalty  had  been  fully  executed.  What 
more  is  required  ?  "  They  are  '  dead : '  why  not  let 
them  remain  dead  ?  "  * 

Such  are  the  inquiries  which  are  raised  not  alone  by 
opposers  of  the  theory,  but  are  urged  even  by  the  more 
radical  ahnihilationists.  The  latter  class  offer  these 
plain  inferences  from  the  doctrine,  in  order  to  deny 
the  Scripture  doctrine  of  a  resurrection  of  the  wicked  ; 
and  their  more  careful  and  conservative  associates 
are  exceedingly  pressed  with  the  difficulty.  And  mean- 
while every  thoughtful  observer  of  God's  revealed 
methods  must  feel  the  entire  incongruity  of  such  a 
stupendous  miracle,  wrought  simply  to  do  over  again 
a  thing  already  done ;  whereas,  when  viewed  as  the 
inauguration  of  such  a  retribution  as  the  Spriptures 

*  H.  L.  Hastings's  Retribution,  p.  152. 


NEW   TESTAMENT  TEACHINGS.  243 

are  commonly  understood  to  announce,  the  reason  and 
propriety  of  the  preparation  require  no  showing. 

How,  now,  do  these  writers  deal  with  this  miracle  of 
the  resurrection  of  all  the  wicked  ?  how  meet  the 
difficulty  of  this  mighty,  but,  on  their  showing,  abor- 
tive preparation  ? 

Mr.  Hastings  alone,  of  those  whom  we  have  con- 
sulted, fairly  acknowledges  the  fact  and  the  difficulty. 
He  admits  that  he  has  no  answer  to  give.  He  simply 
says,  "  Let  us  carry  the  question  farther  back.  Why 
did  God  make  the  wicked  to  live  at  all  ?  .  .  .  If  God 
has  wisely  allowed  the  wicked  to  exist  for  centuries  in 
sin,  blasphemy,  and  rebellion,  certainly  his  wisdom  will 
not  further  suffer  serious  impeachment,  even  though 
he  should  perpetuate  [!]  or  restore  their  existence  for 
another  period  sufficiently  long  for  purposes  of  justice, 
judgment,  and  retribution."  The  statement,  certain- 
ly, is  valid  ;  but  it  is  valid  to  the  extent  of  overthrow- 
ing all  Mr.  Hastings's  objections  to  the  eternal  existence 
of  the  wicked,  —  the  "perpetuation"  of  their  lives. 
Accordingly,  Mr.  Hastings  falls  back  upon  the  simple  fact 
of  the  resurrection,  disclaiming  all  power  to  render  a 
reason  or  explanation.  "  The  sum  of  the  argument  is, 
God  will  do  as  he  pleases,  purposes,  and  promises  ;  nor 
can  men,  who  i  are  as  grasshoppers  before  him,'  stay 
his  hand.  Whether  we  can  comprehend  or  explain  it, 
whether  we  believe  or  doubt  it,  he  will  fulfill  his 
word."  *  Assuredly  there  is  no  difficulty  here  in  the 
fulfillment  of  God's  promise,  nor  in  understanding 
why  the  promise  was  made  :  the  whole  difficulty  is 
with  the  human  theory,  which  makes  one  of  his  most 

*  Retribution,  p.  153. 


244  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

solemn  assurances,  concerning  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able transactions  in  the  universe,  so  wholly  futile. 

Other  writers  positively  deny  that  the  wicked  will  be 
raised.  Mr.  Hastings  testifies  to  the  wide  prevalence 
of  this  view.  "  Besides  various  publications  teaching 
the  doctrine  referred  to,  one  periodical  has  been  largely 
devoted  to  its  advocacy ;  and  one  or  two  weekly  reli- 
gious journals  are  edited  by  men,  who,  though  forbid- 
den by  their  positions  to  speak  fully  upon  it,  yet  make 
no  secret  of  their  denial  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
wicked,  and  inculcate  it,  either  publicly  or  privately,  as 
opportunity  may  be  presented."  *  Edwin  Burnham 
enumerates  this  as  one  of  the  views  entertained  on  the 
destiny  of  the  wicked  :  "  When  the  wicked  die  in  this 
world,  they  die  soul  and  body,  and  will  never  be  raised 
from  the  dead  to  all  eternity  ;  and  this  will  be  their 
final  punishment."!  Ellis  and  Read, in  answer  to  the 
question,  "  Will  the  wicked  dead  be  raised  to  life 
again  ?  "  declare  it  to  be  "  quite  certain  that  the  res- 
urrection of  the  wicked  is  not  taught  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament;" %  and  they  carefully  refrain  from  admitting 
that  it  is  taught  in  the  New. 

Another  resort  is  the  doctrine  already  quoted,  that 
the  wicked  dead  are  raised  simply  as  dead  men,  corpses, 
or  clods  of  inanimate  earth,  and  in  that  condition  are 
brought  to  judgment,  and  receive  their  sentence. 
i  Closely  akin  to  this  last-mentioned  evasion  of  the 
plain  New-Testament  teaching  is  Mr.  Hudson's  theory, 
which,  as  to  conformity  to  the  Scriptures,  hovers  per- 

*  Retribution,  p.  155. 

t  Anti-eternal  Torment,  p.  1.    See  note  p.  248. 

J  Bible  vs.  Tradition,  p.  234. 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  245 

haps  half-way  between  the  theory  which  denies  a  res- 
urrection and  that  which  admits  thcTaising  of  a  corpse 
to  judgment.  Mr.  Hudson  holds  that  the  body  makes 
an  attempt  to  come  to  life,  starts  to  do  it,  but  can  not 
quite  succeed.  His  theory  has  already  been  cited  ; 
but  we  will  here  give  it  entire  as  a  curiosity:  — 

"  To  endeavor  after  a  philosophy  of  the  resurrection, 
we  may  add  a  thought  respecting  that  of  the  unjust. 
It  is  hard  to  believe  that  they  are  raised  up  by  a  miracle 
that  ends  in  their  destruction,  or  that  accomplishes 
nothing  but  a  judgment,  which,  in  this  view,  must  ap- 
pear simply  vindictive.  If  they  have  no  immortality, 
why  are  their  slumbers  disturbed  ?  But,  if  their  res- 
urrection is  connected  with  the  redemption  by  a  law 
that  finds  illustration  in  analogous  facts,  this  difficulty 
may  be  removed.  Damaged  seeds  that  are  sown  often 
exhaust  their  vitality,  and  perish  in  germination  ;  and 
we  have  noted  the  fact,  that  of  insects  which  pass 
through  the  chrysalis  state  to  that  of  the  psyche  or  but- 
terfly, many,  from  injuries  suffered  in  their  original 
form,  utterly  perish  in  the  transition.  Now,  the  glad 
tidings  of  the  redemption,  quickening  and  invigorating 
the  soul  with  new  life,  may  so  far  repair  the  injury 
done  it  in  the  fall,  that  even  the  unbelieving,  who  de- 
rive many  benefits  therefrom  in  this  life,  may  not  alto- 
gether perish  in  the  bodily  death.  Not  to  say  that  the 
average  duration  of  life  is  greater  for  the  gospel,  it 
seems  certain  that  life  is  of  a  higher  type.  Even  bad 
men  in  Christendom  are  familiar  with  moral  sentiments, 
great  truths  of  humanity,  which  the  heathenish  intel- 
lect has  not  conceived.  May  not  such  truths,  as  food  to 
the  souls  even  of  those  who  do  not  cleave  to  Him  who  is 


246  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

the  Truth  and  the  Life,  cause  death  itself  to  be  divided 
as  the  proper  effect  and  token  of  the  redemption  ?  And, 
for  judgment,  it  is  as  if  the  unjust,  hearing  the  voice  of 
God  in  the  last  call  to  life,  should  be  putting  on  a  glori- 
ous incorruption,  and  should  perish  in  the  act."  * 

And  this  is  the  resurrection,  and  "  a  philosophy  of 
the  resurrection  " !  The  reader  will  please  bear  in 
mind  that  it  purports  to  relieve  the  difficulty  of  a 
"miracle ;"  viz.,  the  instantaneous  resurrection,  and  res- 
toration to  life,  of  millions  of  dead  and  decomposed 
human  frames.  And  he  will  observe,  1.  The  careful 
under-statement  of  the  case,  so  as  to  miss  the  chief  dif- 
ficulty. The  author  calls  it  simply  u  a  miracle  that 
ends  in  their  destruction  ; "  whereas  it  would  be,  on 
his  theory,  a  vast  miracle  of  construction  for  the  sake 
of  destruction  alone,  —  an  unparalleled  display  of  mi- 
raculous power  in  order  to  do  over  again  a  thing  al- 
ready done  and  finished ;  a  re-creation  of  the  body 
already  destroyed,  solely  to  annihilate  it  again.  It  is 
for  the  reflecting  mind  to  consider  whether  God  is 
wont  to  lavish  miracles  in  such  modes.  2.  The  confu- 
sion of  things  wholly  different.  Certain  workings  of 
natural  law  are  cited  as  "  analogous  facts,"  analogous 
to  an  objectless  miracle.  The  only  analogous  fact 
would  be  another  equally  objectless  miracle.  Let  it  be 
produced.  3.  The  noticeable  inconsistency.  (1)  Mere 
superficial  contact  with  "  the  glad  tidings  of  the  re- 
demption "  is  here  endowed  with  a  preserving  power 
over  the  body  after  death,  —  a  preserving  influence 
which  the  author's  system  distinctly  restricts  to  a  liv- 
ing faith.     (2)  The  prolongation  of  "  the  average  du- 

*  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  264. 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  247 

ration  of  life  "  in  this  world  through  outward  virtue 
and  prudence  without  faith  is  also  by  implication  qui- 
etly extended  into  the  other  world,  and  after  the  full 
infliction  of  the  penalty  of  death  on  the  body.  (3) 
The  alleged  resurrection  hovers  uncertainly  between  a 
miracle  and  a  natural  phenomenon,  with  a  strong  ten- 
dency to  the  latter.  4.  The  entire  degradation  of  the 
New  Testament  doctrine  of  the  resurrection.  It  is  re- 
duced to  a  bad  seed,  sprouting,  but  failing  to  grow ;  a 
hurt  insect,  not  quite  able  to  pass  from  a  chrysalis  to  a 
butterfly :  "  As  if  the  unjust,  hearing  the  voice  of  God  in 
the  last  call  to  life,  should  be  putting  on  a  glorious  incor- 
ruption,  and  should  perish  in  the  act."  In  other  words, 
he  is  never  quite  raised  at  all.  And  this  is  Mr.  Hudson's 
"  philosophy  "  of  the  Scripture  doctrine,  that  "  they 
that  are  in  the  graves  shall  hear  his  voice,  and  shall 
come  forth ;  they  that  have  done  good,  unto  the  resurrec- 
tion of  life,  and  they  that  have  done  evil,  unto  the  resur- 
rection of  damnation;"  that  they  "  must  all  appear  be- 
fore the  judgment-seat  of  Christ,  that  every  one  may 
receive  the  things  done  in  his  body  according  to  that 
he  hath  done,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad."  It  would 
be  simpler  and  fairer  to  deny  the  resurrection  of  the 
wicked  outright;  for  the  statement  is  equivalent  to 
that. 

This  writer  well  exemplifies  his  own  remark,  that  "it 
is  hard  to  believe  that  they  are  raised  up  by  a  miracle 
that  ends  in  their  destruction."  And  the  difficulty 
which  this  class  of  writers  find  on  the  subject  indicates 
the  great  significance,  in  this  connection,  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  resurrection  preceding  the  general  judg- 


248  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

« 

ment.  That  great  event  not  only  marks  another  dis- 
tinct stage  in  the  existence  of  man  after  death  ;  it  also 
fitly  introduces,  equally  in  the  case  of  the  wicked  as 
of  the  good,  the  opening  of  another  great  epoch  in 
their  history.  - 

*  While  these  sheets  are  passing  through  the  stereotyper's  hands,  we 
learn  that  Rev.  Edwin  Burnham,  whom  we  have  quoted  in  this  and  other 
chapters,  has  renounced  his  heresy,  and  is  now  an  accredited  Baptist 
minister.  But  his  tract  is  still  in  circulation,  and  will  be  read  by  many 
who,  like  ourselves,  will  not  have  seen  his  refutation  of  his  own  argu- 
ments. The  antidote  will  never  neutralize  the  poison.  There  is  there- 
fore no  occasion,  were  it  now  practicable,  to  withdraw  our  allusions  to 
his  annihilationist  utterances.  "  The  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them." 
While  answering  his  arguments,  however,  we  give  him  personally  the 
benefit  of  this  notice ;  the  statement  resting  on  the  authority  of  A. 
K.  Potter,  in  "  The  Christian  Era,"  of  Boston,  some  time  in  March,  1866. 


CHAPTER  V. 

NEW  TESTAMENT  TEACHINGS   CONTINUED. — SHARING  THE 
DOOM  OP  THE  FALLEN  ANGELS. 

WE  have  traced  the  course  of  the  wicked,  by  the 
light  of  the  Scriptures,  to  the  resurrection  and 
the  judgment.  They  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God, 
and  come  forth  from  their  graves  ;  they  appear  in  com- 
pany with  the  righteous,  before  the  judgment-seat,  to 
receive  their  sentence. 

Now,  we  find  the  Scriptures  teaching  that  they  shall 
have  certain  superhuman  companions  of  their  doom, 
and  that  the  two  classes  shall  share  the  same  fate.  It 
will  form  a  strong  link  in  the  chain  of  evidence  if  we  can 
ascertain  what  is  the  Scripture  doctrine  concerning  the 
fate  of  those  companions  of  theirs.  We  refer  to  the 
fallen  angels,  evil  spirits.  Here  we  shall  find  the  ut- 
terance of  Scripture  clear  and  emphatic. 

It  is  the  Scripture  doctrine,  that  wicked  men  share 
the  same  doom  with  the  fallen  spirits  ;  and  the  doom 
of  the  fallen  spirits  is  represented  in  the  same  Scrip- 
tures, not  as  annihilation,  but  as  conscious  existence, 
and  endless  continuance  in  suffering. 

I.  The  unjust  shall  share  the  fate  of  the  fallen  an- 
gels.   On  this  point,  Matt.  xxv.  41  is  decisive.    In  that 

249 


250  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

great  representation  of  the  general  judgment,  when 
the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all  nations 
shall  be  gathered  before  him,  after  the  King  has  ad- 
dressed those  on  his  right  hand,  "  the  righteous,"  with 
a  welcome  to  the  kingdom  prepared  for  them  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world,  the  narrative  proceeds  (verse 
41),  "Then  shall,  he  say  also  unto  them  on  the  left 
hand,  Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire, 
prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels ;  for  I  was  an 
hungered,"  etc.  To  the  same  effect  the  statements  of 
Rev.  xx.  10,  15.  In  the  10th  verse,  we  learn  that  "  the 
devil  that  deceived  them  was  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire 
and  brimstone,  where  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet 
are,  and  shall  be  tormented  day  and  night  for  ever  and 
ever."  In  the  15th  verse,  we  learn,  as  the  result  of  the 
judgment,  when  all  the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand 
before  God,  that  "  whosoever  was  not  found  written  in 
the  book  of  life  was  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire." 

The  doom  of  the  two  parties  is  thus  the  same  in 
kind.  We  might,  perhaps,  have  drawn  a  strong  pre- 
sumptive argument  from  the  fate  of  the  fallen  angels, 
to  that  of  lost  men,  had  there  been  no  disclosure  on 
the  subject.  We  might  have  reasoned,  that  if  it  ap- 
peared that  those  beings,  who  fell  before  the  fall  of  our 
first  parents,  were  not,  and  were  not  to  be,  struck  out 
of  existence,  but  to  be  continued  under  the  anger  and 
vengeance  of  God,  so  also,  most  likely,  it  would  be 
with  human  evil-doers.  Certainly  any  rational  argu- 
ment to  prove  the  extinction  of  sinners  from  the  uni- 
verse would  be  overthrown  by  finding  that  Satan  and 
his  companions  were  to  continue  in  existence.  But 
we  are  not  left  to  inferences.     The  Word  of  Gcd  posi- 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  251 

tively  assigns  the  same  final  doom  to  wicke  I  men  as  to 
evil  spirits.     What  is  that  doom  ? 

II.  The  fate  of  the  fallen  angels  is  not  annihilation, 
but  conscious  existence,  and  endless  continuance  in 
suffering. 

No  doubt,  many  things  in  regard  to  the  condition  and 
history  of  the  apostate  angels  remain  in  obscurity. 
Some  things,  however,  are  definitely  revealed  and  set- 
tled. It  is  certain  that  their  fall  had  taken  place  be- 
fore our  first  parents  were  placed  in  the  garden.  It  is 
certain,  therefore,  that  Satan  (and  probably  others  of 
them)  has  existed  in  a  state  of  the  most  vehement  sin- 
ful activity  for  several  thousand  years  already.  It 
does  not  appear  that  any  opportunity  of  recovery  ever 
has  been,  or  ever  will  be,  offered  to  them.  The  con- 
trary appears  to  be  declared  in  2  Pet.  ii.  4  :  "  For  if 
God  spared  not  the  angels  that  sinned,  but  cast  them 
down  to  hell,  and  delivered  them  into  chains  of  dark- 
ness, to  be  reserved  unto  judgment,"  etc.  Also  Jude 
6 :  "  And  the  angels  which  kept  not  their  first  estate, 
but  left  their  own  habitation,  he  hath  reserved  in  ever- 
lasting chains  under  darkness,  unto  the  judgment  of 
the  great  day."  Meanwhile,  by  an  arrangement  and 
for  reasons  of  which  we  have  no  explanation  in  the 
Bible,  a  portion  at  least  of  these  hopelessly  lost  beings 
have  been  for  a  time  suffered  to  leave  their  confine- 
ment, and  mingle  in  the  concerns  of  this  world,  where 
they  are  restlessly,  malignantly,  and  powerfully  active 
(Matt.  xii.  43 ;  1  Pet.  v.  8  ;  Eph.  vi.  12,  etc.).  We 
learn,  furthermore,  that  the  time  is  coming  when  Satan 
shall  be  bound  "  a  thousand  years,"  so  that  during  the 
time  "  he  should  deceive  the  nations  no  more  "  (Rev. 


252  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

xx.  2,  3) ;  and  after  that,  and  before  the  judgment,  "  he 
must  be  loosed  a  little  season,"  and  shall  again  "  go 
out  to  deceive  the  nations  "  (Rev.  xx.  3,  7,  8).  The 
details  of  this  economy,  so  as  to  combine  these 
representations,  if  we  were  able  to  find  them,  would 
be  of  no  special  account  for  our  present  purpose.  It 
is,  however,  important  to  observe,  in  passing,  that 
these  beings  thus  reserved  unto  judgment,  though 
not  prisoners  of  hope,  are  in  the  full  possession  of 
their  activities  for  thousands  of  years  prior  to  the  final 
overthrow. 

What,  now,  is  the  final  doom  which  the  Scriptures 
assign  to  Satan  ?  It  is,  in  the  plainest  terms  that  lan- 
guage can  furnish,  torment,  —  endless  torment.  The 
closing  statement  concerning  his  fate  is  this  :  **  A  nd 
the  devil  that  deceived  them  was  cast  into  the  lake  of 
fire  and  brimstone,  where  the  beast  and  the  false  prophet 
are,  and  [they]  shall  be  tormented  day  and  night  for 
ever  and  ever  "  (Rev.  xx.  10).  The  passage  expressly 
and  unequivocally  declares  three  things, — suffering, 
incessant,  eternal. 

The  Greek  verb  "tormented"  (^aaanad^aovtai)  occurs 
twelve  times  in  the  New  Testament,  with  the  unvarying" 
meaning  of  harassed,  pained,  or  tormented ;  except- 
ing, for  the  present,  its  application  to  the  lost.  It  is 
the  word  which  describes  the  suffering  of  a  woman  in 
travail  ("pained  to  be  delivered,"  Rev.  xii.  2)  ;  the 
suffering  of  severe  sickness  ("  grievously  tormented," 
Matt.  viii.  6)  ;  the  suffering  by  a  terrible  plague  ("  tor- 
mented five  months,"  Rev.  ix.  5)  ;  a  suffering  so  great, 
that  it  is  compared  to  the  pain  ["  torment ':  |  inflicted 
by  the  scorpion,  and  that  the  victims  desired  death. 


NEW   TESTAMENT  TEACHINGS.  253 

It  describes  the  mental  suffering  of  just  Lot  among 
the  wicked  Sodomites,  when  that  "just  man  vexed 
(Ifiaaan'Qzv)  his  righteous  soul  with  their  unlawful 
deeds  "  (2  Pet:  ii.  8)  ;  and  the  bodily  exhaustion  and 
mental  anxiety  of  toiling  mariners  (Mark  vi.  48), 
"  toiling-"  harassed,  or  tormented,  "  in  rowing."  In 
Rev.  xi.  10  ("  the  two  prophets  tormented  them  "),  it 
describes  the  sufferings  brought  upon  the  earth  by  the 
prophets  who  had  "  power  to  shut  the  heaven  that  it 
rain  not  in  the  days  of  their  prophecy,  and  have  power 
over  the  waters  to  turn  them  to  blood,  and  to  smite 
the  earth  with  all  plagues."  In  Rev.  xiv.  10,  it  de- 
scribes the  punishment  of  those  who  worship  the  beast : 
"  He  shall  be  tormented  with  fire  and  brimstone  ; "  and 
in  the  next  verse  (11)  the  explanation  is  added,  "  They 
have  no  rest  day  nor  night."  In  one  instance  only,  it 
is  by  a  strong  figure  applied  to  an  inanimate  object,  a 
"  ship  tossed  [tormented]  with  the  waves  "  (Matt.  xiv. 
24),  just  as  we  in  like  manner  should  describe  it  as 
racked  by  the  sea.  In  every  other  instance  it  is  ap- 
plied to  the  treatment  of  evil  spirits,  either  as  threat- 
ened by  God  in  this  instance,  or  as  apprehended  by 
themselves  (Matt.  viii.  29  ;  Mark  v.  7  ;  Luke  viii.  28). 

Such  being  the  case,  the  word  "  torment "  (/Wan^o)) 
being  in  every  other  instance,  when  applied  to  a  living 
being,  expressive  of  positive  suffering,  it  would  require 
a  degree  of  hardihood  on  which  all  argument  is  lost 
to  deny  that  meaning  when  it  is  found  applied  to  the 
fate  of  lost  spirits.     Their  fate  is  suffering. 

Incessant  suffering :  "  Shall  be  tormented  day  and 
night."  The  phrase  "  day  and  night  "  requires  no  ex- 
planation to  the  common  reader.     It  asserts  that  the 


254  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

suffering  is  not  a  momentary  pang,  once  felt  and  ended, 
but  a  constant,  continuous  woe.  We  need  hardly  sus- 
tain this  meaning  of  the  phrase  by  such  references  as 
1  Thess.  ii.  9,  iii.  10,  or  remind  the  reader  that  it  is 
employed  (Rev.  vii.  15)  to  describe  the  ceaselessness 
of  the  service  of  the  ransomed  martyrs  in  heaven. 

Endless  suffering  :  "  For  ever  and  ever,"  literally  to 
the  ages  of  the  ages  (atV  tovg  ataivag  rav  altavcop).  On  this 
phrase,  little  need  be  said.  It  is  the  strongest  form  in 
which  the  idea  of  eternity  is  conveyed  in  the  Bible.  It 
is  the  most  emphatic  mode  in  which  the  duration  of 
the  life  and  glory  of  the  righteous  is  expressed  (Rev. 
xxii.  5),  in  which  the  continuance  of  God's  glory  is 
prayed  for  (Gal.  i.  5,  Eph.  iii.  21,  Phil.  iv.  20,  1  Tim. 
i.  17,  2  Tim.  iv.  18,  Heb.  xiii.  21,  etc.),  and  in  which 
the  duration  of  God's  or  of  Christ's  own  existence  is 
asserted  (Rev.  i.  18,  iv.  9,  10,  x.  6,  xv.  7). 

How,  now,  do  the  advocates  of  annihilation  dispose 
of  this  declaration  ?  No  two  of  them,  apparently,  can 
agree.  It  is  worth  while  to  take  a  glanee  at  some  of 
their  methods. 

Mr.  Dobney,  as  usual,  is  the  most  candid.  He  seems 
to  admit  (pp.  227,  229)  that  "  the  devil  shall  be  tor- 
mented day  and  night  for  ever,"  without  denying  the 
plain  meaning  of  the  language  ;  but  he  argues  (1) 
that  "  this  text  says  nothing  at  all  about  sinners  of  the 
human  race."  Very  true  ;  but  other  texts  already 
cited  do  say  that  they  shall  experience  the  same  fate. 
Indeed,  he  finds  himself  obliged  to  meet  the  passage 
occurring  five  verses  later  in  the  same  chapter  (verse 
15),  which  declares  that  "  whosoever  was  not  found 
written  in  the  book  of  life  was  cast  into  the  lake  of 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  255 

fire,'  —  into  the  same  lake  of  fire  already  mentioned. 
In  view  of  this  difficulty,  he  takes  the  ground  (2),  that, 
"  because  in  the  lake  of  fire  the  devil  shall  be  tor- 
mented for  ever,  it  does  not  necessarily  follow  that 
quite  another  race  of  intelligences  cast  into  the  same 
lake  must  therefore  exist  as  long  as  he  does,  and  en- 
dure the  same  torment :  "  "  it  may  produce  different 
effects ;  it  may  torment  the  one,  and  destroy  the  other." 
A  man  who  can  construct  such  an  argument  is  cer- 
tainly hard  pressed  ;  and  a  man  who  rests  his  belief  of 
annihilation  on  such  a  basis  is  a  bold  man.  The  effect 
of  being  cast  into  the  "  furnace  of  fire  "  is  elsewhere 
described  as  being,  in  the  case  of  the  wicked,  "  wail- 
ing, and  gnashing  of  teeth."  But  (3)  he  maintains  that, 
in  verse  14  ("  death  and  hell  were  cast  into  the  lake 
of  fire  "),  the  punishment  means  extinction ;  therefore 
it  may  in  verse  15.  This,  however,  can  not  be  shown. 
Death  and  hades  being,  as  Alford  well  says,  "  the  off- 
spring of  and  bound  up  with  sin,"  are  viewed  as  alike 
"the  enemies  of  God,"  and  terrors  of  man.  In  God's 
victory  over  his  foes,  they,  too,  are  overcome,  and  turned 
into  the  place  of  punishment.  In  verse  10,  the  beast 
and  the  false  prophet  (both,  probably,  impersonations) 
are  included  among  the  parties  tormented  for  ever. 
It  is  only  to  the  redeemed  that  there  shall  be  no  more 
death  (xx.  4)  :  to  the  lost  it  is  nothing  but  death,  — 
the  second  death.  There  is  nothing  inconsistent  with 
other  representations  in  the  supposition  that  these  en- 
emies of  God  are  here  described  as  shut  up  with  their 
victims,  punished  and  punishing,  in  other  forms  to 
worry  them  for  ever.  If  it  were  understood  that  they 
cease  to  be,  this  would  come  from  the  supposed  neces- 


256  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

sity  of  the  case,  as  mere  personifications  ;  and  the  dif- 
ference between  the  fate  of  an  impersonation  and  an 
actual  living  being  would  afford  no  ground  for  a  simi- 
lar conclusion  in  reference  to  the  latter. 

Mr.  Blain  says,  among  other  things  (1),  that  "  the 
events  here  told  are  symbolic ;  and  such  prophetic  lan- 
guage is  hard  to  be  understood,  and  is  no  proof  of  a 
doctrine  when  unsupported  by  other  Scripture."  In 
his  exposition,  however,  almost  the  only  thing  which 
he  finds  hard  to  understand  is  that  this  very  plain  lan- 
guage can  mean  what  it  says.  He  proceeds  (2) :  "  Only 
earthly  events  are  told  in  this  chapter  till  we  come  to 
the  11th  verse.  '  Day  and  night'  are,  in  this  '  for  ever,' 
(age)  :  and  they  are  not  to  be  in  the  future  world ;  '  for 
there  shall  be  no  night  there.'  "  That  is,  he  must  af- 
firm (a)  that  there  are  "  two  lakes  of  fire  and  brim- 
stone "  referred  to  in  this  chapter,  within  five  verses, — 
one  id  this  world,  the  other  hereafter.  And  (&)  the 
attempt  to  withdraw  the  scene  from  the  future  world 
on  the  strength  of  the  phrase  "  day  and  night  "  would 
also  withdraw  "  the  great  multitude  "  of  the  redeemed 
and  glorified  in  heaven,  "  which  no  man  could  number," 
back  to  earth  ;  for,  while  they  are  "  before  the  throne 
of  God,"  the  next  words  declare  that  "  they  serve  him 
day  and  night."  The  obvious  fact  is,  that  the  language 
of  time  is  almost  necessarily  transferred  to  the  scenes 
of  eternity  ;  and  the  phrase  "day  and  night"  clearly 
bears  its  frequent  meaning  continually.  The  argument 
of  Mr.  Blain  is  worthy  of  tiie  Universalists,  with  whom, 
we  believe,  it  originated.  But  (3)  he  affirms  that 
"  the  literal  devil  is  not  here  meant."  The  Bible,  he 
admits,  "  fully  reveals  a  literal  devil ;  but  his  name  is 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  257 

only  used  figuratively  in  Rev.  xii.  and  xx."  If  so,  we 
can  only  say  that  the  apostle  has  labored  very  hard  and 
to  very  little  purpose  to  make  his  own  meaning  plain  ; 
for  he  very  particularly  and  emphatically  describes  him 
(verse  2),  as  "  the  dragon,  that  old  serpent ,  which  is 
the  Devil  and  Satan" 

Ellis  and  Read  have  a  very  marvelous  criticism  of 
the  passage,  containing  the  following  statement :  "  The 
word  basinisthesontai  is  the  future  tense  plural  of 
basanos*  a  touch-stone  to  try  metals,  and  means  a 
trial,  inquiry,  or  examination,  to  ascertain  the  genu- 
ineness or  purity  of  any  thing :  hence,  metaphorically, 
the  word  is  used  for  an  examination  to  obtain  proof,  to 
confirm  any  fact,  torture  employed  to  obtain  evidence 
or  extort  truth,  a  proof  given  or  obtained,  a  pledge," 
etc.  After  an  equally  luminous  discussion  of  the  phrase 
"  for  ever  and  ever,"  he  concludes  that  "  the  verse  will 
mean  that  whatever  is  symbolized  by  the  beast  and  the 
false  prophet  and  the  dragon  shall  be  tried  till  the  end 
of  the  age."     Most  likely,  to  "  ascertain  their  purity." 

But  the  most  amazing  interpretation  of  all  is  that  of 
Mr.  Hudson,  who,  without  deigning  to  offer  a  word 
of  criticism  or  explanation  on  the  phraseology,  summa- 
rily converts  this  declaration  of  eternal  torment  into 
an  assertion  of  final  extinction.  Hear  him :  "  But 
why  are  they  said  to  be  '  tormented  day  and  night,  for 
ever  and  ever '  ?     This  might  be  said  of  the  beast  and 


*  This  is  given  exactly  from  the  sixth  edition  of  Bible  vs.  Tradition;  the 
first  Greek  form  misspelled,  and  the  second  confounding  the  noun  fiaoavos 
with  the  verb  fiaoavi£o).  The  whole  criticism  is  not  an  unfair  specimen  of 
the  learning  of  the  book.  It  is  not  probably  a  lapse,  but  the  real  measure 
of  the  learning. 

17 


258  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

the  false  prophet  as  impersonations,  henceforth  without 
power  or  worshipers.  [Observe  the  admission.]  Com- 
pare what  is  said  of  Babylon  (chap,  xviii.  7,  8,  19). 
But  we  think  the  language  describes  their  utter  and 
irrevocable  destruction  [annihilation],  in  a  dramatic 
form,  which  is  quite  consistent  with  the  general  struc- 
ture of  the  book."  *  Singularly  dramatic  !  That  u  the 
language  "  which  asserts,  in  the  plainest,  simplest  form, 
suffering  constant  and  eternal,  should  be  summarily 
declared  to  assert  the  cessation  of  all  suffering  and 
all  existence,  —  is  there  the  instance  of  equal  audacity 
on  record  ? 

One  redeeming  feature  appears  in  these  several  ar- 
guments, —  that  no  one  of  these  four  writers  is  willing 
to  adopt  the  other's  exposition. 

But  Mr.  Hudson,  after  citing  several  "dramatic" 
passages,  none  of  which  has  any  relation  whatever  to 
this  phraseology,  leaves  the  passage  for  some  general 
considerations  on  the  destiny  of  Satan.  "  But  will 
Satan  actually  cease  from  being  ?  Is  he,  indeed, 
mortal  ?  The  prophecies  all  look  that  way.  Our 
translators  have  indeed  dealt  somewhat  tenderly  with 
the  great  adversary  in  Gen.  iii.  15,  where  the  true 
sense  is,  that  the  seed  of  the  woman  shall  crush  the 
head  of  the  serpent.  The  words  in  Heb.  ii.  14,  and  1 
John  iii.  8,  express  indeed  the  dispossession  of  Satan, 
rather  than  his  final  destruction.  But  that  doom,  in 
common  with  the  destruction  of  every  power  hostile  to 
God,  is  told  in  Daniel :  '  I  beheld  then  because  of  the 
voice  of  the  great  words  which   the  horn   spake  :    I 

*  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  215.  We  find  in  Christ  rur  Life  a  more  protracted 
discussion;  for  which  see  Appendix,  Note  E. 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  259 

beheld  even  till  the  beast  was  slain,  and  his  body  de- 
stroyed, and  given  to  the  burning  flame.  As  con- 
cerning the  rest  of  the  beasts,  they  had  their  dominion 
taken  away  ;  yet  their  lives  were  prolonged  for  a  season 
and  a  time  '  (vii.  11, 12).     See  also  Matt.  xxv.  41." 

So,  then,  these  "  prophecies  "  which  "  all  look  that 
way,"  are  reduced  to  two  (Gen.  iii.  15,  and  Dan.  vii.  11, 
12).  In  Genesis,  the  translators  have  shown  no  partic- 
ular tenderness  in  the  translation.*  The  word  (tpi®) 
occurs  in  only  three  verses  of  the  Old  Testament ;  being 
used,  however,  four  times,  twice  in  the  present  passage: 
In  three  instances  it  cannot  possibly  mean  annihilate, 
as  will  presently  appear ;  and  the  one  in  question  is 
the  fourth.  In  this  particular  passage,  it  has  been, 
perhaps,  as  well  translated  as  was  practicable.  As  the 
Hebrew  uses  the  same  word  in  both  clauses,  so  the 
translators,  —  "  bruise  thy  head,  bruise  his  heel."  To 
translate  it "  crush  "  would  make  no  essential  difference ; 
for  the  second  "  crush  "  is  evidently  a  biting  of  the  heel 
by  the  serpent.  Annihilation  certainly  does  not  lie  in 
the  expression  "  crush  "  or  "  bruise."  The  only  other 
places  where  it  is  used  are  Job  ix.  17,  where  a  living1 
and  suffering  man  exclaims,  "  He  breaketh  me  with  a 
tempest ; "  and  Ps.  cxxxix.  11,  "  If  I  say,  Surely  the 
darkness  shall  cover  (C|*to,  fall  upon,  overwhelm)  me, 
even  the  night  shall  be  light  about  me,"  where  it  is 
again  uttered  of  a  person  supposed  to  be  still  living. 
The  reader  will  thus  see  that  the  attempt  to  find  anni- 
hilation of  Satan  in  the  word  "  crush  "  is  futile.  If  it 
should  be  persisted,  that  to  bruise  or  crush  the  head  is 

*  This  sneer  at  "our  tender  translators"  is  repeated  in  Christ  our  Life, 
p.  146. 


260  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

to  inflict  a  fatal  wound,  we  need  only  remind  the  read- 
er that  this  language,  as  well  as  the  whole  curse  on 
Satan,  is  applied  to  him  under  the  likeness  of  a  crawl- 
ing serpent;  and  that,  when  such  a  figure  is  employed, 
this  is  the  only  mode  of  describing  a  complete  victory 
over  and  subjugation  of  Satan,  and  is  not  in  the  slight- 
est degree  incompatible  with  the  distinct  statement,  that 
"  the  devil "  "  shall  be  tormented  day  and  night  for 
ever." 

The  other  prophecy  cited  as  foretelling  Satan's  anni- 
hilation is  in  Dan.  vii.  11,  12.  But  the  reader  who 
will  examine  the  passage  in  its  connection  will  look  in 
vain  for  the  slightest  allusion  to  Satan,  express  or  im- 
plied. The  beasts  there  spoken  of  are  four  great  hu- 
man monarchies,  or  world-powers,  repeatedly  described 
in  Daniel.  The  11th  verse  probably  refers  to  the  fourth 
of  these  (so  Hitzig),  and  the  12th  to  the  preceding 
ones,  which  were  perhaps,  as  dependent  kingdoms,  to 
be  "  prolonged  for  a  season,"  "after  their  dominant 
power  was  overthrown.  But,  whatever  may  be  the 
meaning  of  the  minor  expressions,  we  know  no  respect- 
able commentator  who  ventures  to  maintain  that  here 
is  a  reference  to  Satan,  or  indeed  to  any  other  "  beasts  " 
than  those  great  worldly  powers  just  described  in  the 
same  chapter. 

Mr.  Hudson  also  adds,  "  See  Matt.  xxv.  41."  But 
that  passage  speaks  of  "  eternal  fire  prepared  for  the 
devil  and  his  angels,"  and  certainly  offers  no  help  in 
the  effort  to  deny  the  eternity  of  the  torments  here 
described. 

As  these  writers  are  fond  of  referring  to  the  peculiar 
character  of  the  book  of  Revelation  in  order  to  invali- 


NEW    TESTAMENT    TEACHINGS.  261 

dato  the  force  of  its  testimony,  we  may  add,  that  pas- 
sages in  the  Gospels  fully  corroborate  the  plain  mean- 
ing of  the  text  we  have  considered.  In  the  remarkable 
narrative  of  the  evil  spirits  and  the  herd  of  swine 
recorded  by  three  evangelists  (Matt.  viii.  28-34,  Mark 
v.  1-20,  Luke  viii.  26-34),  the  correspondence  is  very 
close.  Each  evangelist  has  retained  the  same  strong 
word,  "  torment "  (^aaavi^co) ,  as  expressing  the  punish- 
ment which  the  demons  dreaded  at  the  hands  of  Christ : 
"  I  adjure  thee  by  God  that  thou  torment  me  not  " 
(Mark  v.  7) ;  "I beseech  thee,  torment  me  not  "  (Luke 
viii.  28).  Matt.  viii.  29  makes  their  meaning  clear  by 
giving  an  additional  phrase,  identifying  this  dreaded 
torment  with  their  final  punishment :  "  What  have  we 
to  do  with  thee,  Jesus,  thou  Son  of  God  ?  Art  thou 
come  hither  to  torment  us  before  the  time  ?  "  Luke, 
by  a  further  statement  of  the  conversation,  identifies 
the  place  of  the  torment  as  the  "  pit  "  or  abyss  where 
Satan  is  to  be  confined  (Rev.  xx.  1,  3),  and  whence 
the  diabolical  powers  are  let  loose  and  come  forth 
(Rev.  xi.  7,  xvii.  8).  Thus  Luke  records  (viii.  31)  : 
"  And  they  besought  him  that  he  would  not  command 
them  to  depart  into  the  abyss  "  (eig  rrjv  afivaaov  daeldeTv). 
Many  readers  probably  receive  a  wrong  impression  from 
the  common  version  of  the  last  few  words;  viz.,  "to 
go  out  into  the  deep,"  as  though  the  request  were  that 
Christ  would  not  send  them  into  the  waters  of  the  lake. 
But  the  error  is  obvious  in  a  moment ;  for,  when  the 
devils  received  permission  to  enter  the  swine,  they 
actually  impelled  the  herd  directly  into  the  lake.  Be- 
sides, the  request  itself  would  seem  unaccountably 
trivial      But  the  word  translated  "  the  deep  "  is  deci- 


262  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

sive.  It  occurs  in  eight  other  instances  in  the  New 
Testament.  In  one  only  of  these  cases  is  it  applied  to 
the  region  of  the  departed  in  general  (Rom.  x.  7)  : 
in  every  other  instance  it  is  the  "  pit,"  "  the  bottomless 
pit ;  "  the  latter  phrase  being  a  translation  of  the  same 
one  word.  Thus  Rev.  ix.  1,2:  "  To  him  was  given 
the  key  of  the  bottomless  pit ;  and  he  opened  the  bottom- 
less pit,  and  there  arose  a  smoke  out  of  the  pit,  as  the 
smoke  of  a  great  furnace."  (The  reader  will  remem- 
ber the  "furnace  of  fire,"  Matt.  xiii.  42,  50;  the  "lake 
of  fire  and  brimstone,''  Rev.  xx.  10 ;  and  "  the  smoke 
of  their  torment,"  Rev.  xiv.  11.)  And  again  (ix. 
11):  "  And  they  [the  pests  that  came  to  "torment" 
the  earth]  had  a  king  over  them,  which  is  the  angel  of 
the  bottomless  pit,  whose  name  in  the  Hebrew  tongue 
is  Abaddon,  but  in  the  Greek  tongue  hath  his  name 
Apollyon."  Again,  Rev.  xi.  7 :  "  The  beast "  that  kills 
the  two  witnesses  "  ascendeth  out  of  the  bottomless 
pit ;  "  and  "  the  beast  "  that  carried  the  scarlet  woman 
(Rev.  xvii.  8)  "  shall  ascend  out  of  the  bottomless  pit, 
and  go  into  perdition."  And  Rev.  xx.  1,  3  :  The  angel 
that  had  "  the  key  of  the  bottomless  pit "  laid  hold  on 
Satan,  and  "  cast  him  into  the  bottomless  pit,  and  shut 
him  up  "  for  a  thousand  years. 

Thus,  then,  the  place  where  these  evil  spirits  dreaded 
being  sent  to  be  tormented  before  their  time  was  no 
other  than  "  the  pit,"  the  home  of  Apollyon  and  the 
great  diabolical  powers  that  war  against  Christ,  the 
abode  in  which  Satan  is  to  be  confined  for  a  thousand 
years  previous  to  the  millennium.  On  this  point,  there 
is,  we  believe,  no  diversity  of  opinion  among  expositors; 
indeed,  the  case  admits  of  none.     Thus  says  Alford : 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  263 

"  This  word  is  sometimes  used  for  hades  in  general, 
but  more  usually  in  Scripture  for  the  abode  of  damned 
spirits.  This  last  is  certainly  meant  here  ;  for  the  re- 
quest is  co-ordinate  with  the  fear  of  torment  expressed 
above." 

The  "  pit,"  then,  the  home  of  Satan  and  the  evil 
spirits,  is  a  place  of  torment,  not  of  extinction  ;  where 
Satan  can  be  bound  a  thousand  years,  and  still  come 
forth  in  all  his  power  and  malignity :  and  the  lake  of 
fire,  whether  precisely  identical  with  it,  or  denoting 
"  a  further  and  more  dreadful  place  of  punishment  "  (as 
Alford  suggests),  is  a  place  where  they  "  shall  be  tor- 
mented day  and  night  for  ever  and  ever." 

It  is  thus  the  Scripture  doctrine,  that  Satan  (in 
company  with  the  evil  spirits)  shall  experience  eternal 
punishment,  and  that  that  punishment  consists  in  suf- 
fering. It  is  the  Scripture  teaching  also,  that,  at  the 
last  day,  all  the  wicked  shall  experience  the  doom  pre- 
pared for  "  the  devil  and  his  angels." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

NEW  TESTAMENT  TEACHINGS   CONTINUED. — DIRECT  DECLA- 
RATIONS.—  FUTURE  PUNISHMENT  CONSISTS  IN  SUFFERING. 

THUS  far  we  have  traced  in  the  New  Testament 
teachings  a  continuous  history  of  the  soul  after 
death.  It  passes  at  once  to  a  state  of  conscious  joy 
or  sorrow.  At  the  closing  of  this  remedial  dispensa- 
tion, it  is  joined  by  the  body,  now  roused  from  the 
sleep  of  ages,  and  in  company  with  the  whole  human 
race,  simultaneously  clothed  with  flesh  again  by  a  mira- 
cle of  inconceivable  grandeur  and  extent,  is  summoned 
before  God  in  preparation  for  a  sentence  still  more 
formal  and  complete.  The  sentence  assigns  to  the  one 
class  the  eternal  companionship  of  God  and  all  holy 
beings  ;  to  the  other,  the  society  and  the  doom  of  the 
devil  and  his  angels,  —  a  doom  elsewhere  described  as  a 
perpetual  and  miserable  existence. 

But  the  New  Testament  does  not  leave  the  subject 
thus.  It  teaches  in  very  express  forms  that  the  final 
►doom  of  sin  is,  not  insensibility  and  non-existence,  but 
positive  suffering,  and  that  protracted  and  eternal.  The 
attempt  is  continually  made  by  annihilationists  to  fore- 
stall and  rule  out  all  this  testimony  by  accumulated 
quotations  concerning  "  death,"  "  destruction,"  "  per- 
ishing," and  the  like.     But,  as  we  have  seen,  these  lat- 

264 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  265 

ter  expressions  have  no  such  force.  There  is  no  col- 
lision between  the  two  modes  of  statement :  the  one  is 
only  explanatory  of  the  other.  The  passages  which 
we  are  about  to  quote  simply  show  what  the  Scriptures 
mean  by  death,  perishing,  and  destruction.  As,  in  the 
Bible,  life  is  more  than  existence ;  so  is  death  more  than 
non-existence,  and  yet  less.  As,  in  this  world,  men 
often  witness  the  ruin  of  a  living  man,  which,  as  they 
say,  is  worse  than  death  ;  so,  in  the  other  world,  there 
is  a  destruction,  which,  by  the  confession  of  annihila- 
tionists  themselves,  is  more  terrible  than  extinction. 

It  is  one  of  the  commonest  and  simplest  principles 
of  interpretation,  in  secular  as  well  as  in  sacred  writ- 
ings, to  explain  the  briefer  phraseology  by  the  fuller 
descriptions  of  the  same  writers.  To  be  saved  by  the 
grace  of  God,  we  find  elsewhere  includes  the  specific 
human  acts  of  repentance  and  faith.  To  be  justified 
by  faith,  without  the  works  of  the  law,  we  learn  does 
nevertheless  comprise  those  very  exercises  of  holy  liv- 
ing which  might  at  first  seem  to  be  excluded.  The 
real  meaning  of  the  divine  names  applied  to  Christ  is 
made  absolutely  certain  by  the  fuller  ascription  of  di- 
vine attributes,  works,  and  worship.  It  is  therefore 
both  legitimate  and  indispensable  to  learn  the  force  of 
the  briefer  terms  of  the  Bible  by  the  fuller  statements 
which  unfold  them.  Now,  on  the  nature  and  duration 
of  the  punishment  of  the  wicked,  the  Scriptures  are 
consistent,  uniform,  and  explicit. 

I.  First,  The  Scriptures,  whenever  they  speak  in 
detail,  under  a  variety  of  forms,  invariably  describe 
future  punishment  as  consisting  in  the  infliction  of  suf- 
fering, and  not  in  the  arrest  and  cessation  of  it.     No- 


266  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

where  can  the  statement  be  found,  that  God's  great  and 
ultimate  vengeance  upon  the  sinner  will  consist  in  the 
final  annulment  of  the  woes  that  his  sin  has  wrought. 
Everywhere,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  both  implied  and 
asserted  that  the  penalty  of  sin  is  the  letting  loose  of 
woe  upon  the  transgressor's  head.  "  There  is  no  peace, 
saith  my  God,  to  the  wicked." 

Let  the  reader  clearly  mark  the  issue.  Does  the 
main  stress  and  crowning  stroke  of  divine  punishment 
consist  in  the  final  extinction  of  the  wicked,  or  in  the 
tremendous  pressure  of  suffering  and  anguish  upon 
the  sinning  soul  ?  The  annihilation ists  maintain  the 
former  ;  the  Scriptures,  most  abundantly  and  unequiv- 
ocally, the  latter. 

1.  This  doctrine  is  contained  in  the  assertion,  that 
there  are  grades  of  punishment.  The  New  Testament 
plainly  declares  that  there  shall  be  different  degrees  of 
penalty  inflicted  at  the  final  judgment.  "  It"  shall  be 
more  tolerable  for  the  land  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah 
in  the  day  of  judgment  than  for  that  city  "  which 
should  reject  Christ's  messengers  (Matt.  x.  15).  "It 
shall  be  more  tolerable  for  Tyre  and  Sidon  at  the  day 
of  judgment  than  for  you,"  Chorazin  and  Bethsaida. 
"  More  tolerable  for  the  land  of  Sodom  in  the  day  of 
judgment  than  for  thee,"  Capernaum  (Matt.  xi.  22, 
24).  "And  that  servant  which  knew  his  Lord's  will, 
and  prepared  not  himself,  neither  did  according  to  his 
will,  shall  be  beaten  with  many  stripes.  But  he  that 
knew  not,  and  did  commit  things  worthy  of  stripes, 
shall  be  beaten  with  few  stripes  "  (Luke  xii.  47,  48). 
"  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  !  for 
ye  devour  widows'   houses,  and  for  a  pretense  make 


I 


NEW    TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  267 

long  prayers :  therefore  ye  shall  receive  the  greater 
damnation"  (Matt,  xxiii.  14).  In  these  and  other 
passages,  the  Saviour  clearly  affirms  diverse  degrees  of 
severity  of  punishment  proportioned  to  the  aggrava- 
tion of  guilt. 

Mr.  Dobney  freely  admits  the  fact.  "  Let  it  be  ad- 
mitted that  there  are,  as  we  easily  perceive  there  ought 
to  be,  degrees  of  punishment.  ...  To  the  fact  of 
degrees  of  guilt  we  must  adhere  ;  and  then  the  con- 
sequence is  inevitable."  * 

This  teaching  is  entirely  incompatible  with  the  the- 
ory that  extinction  is  the  doom  of  sin.  There  are  no 
degrees  of  extinction.  Of  a  doom  which  consists  in 
conscious  suffering  there  can  be  greater  or  smaller 
inflictions  ;  but  of  annihilation  there  can  be  neither 
more  nor  less  ;  it  is  simply  annihilation.  It  can  neither 
be  doubled  nor  halved,  increased  nor  diminished.  The 
Sodomite  can  be  no  less  annihilated,  the  Capernaite 
no  more,  than  the  multitude  of  sinning  Jews.  The 
very  announcement  of  degrees  in  the  final  penalty  of 
sin,  therefore,  disproves  the  doctrine  that  extinction  is 
the  penalty. 

Annihilationists  have  felt  the  force  of  the  difficultv. 
To  Mr.  Dobney  "  it  appears  one  of  the  very  strongest 
of  all  objections  "  to  his  doctrine.  The  reply  he  makes 
is  the  following  suggestion  :  "It  is  quite  conceivable 
that  the  length  of  time  which  shall  elapse  ere  the 
wicked  utterly  cease  to  be,  and  the  degree  of  suffering 
by  which  the  final  dissolution  shall  be  preceded  and 
accompanied,  may  be  exactly  proportioned  to  their  va- 
rious deserts."     Hudson  more  briefly  says  the  same: 

*  Future  Punishment,  pp.  264,  265. 


268  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

"  The  pangs  of  the  second  death  may  be  the  measure 
of  the  sins  of  life."  *  Hastings  likewise  :  "  It  took 
some  six  hundred  and  thirty  years  to  execute  the  '  death 
penalty  '  pronounced  on  Adam  :  how  long  it  may  re- 
quire to  execute  the  penalty  of  the  '  second  death '  upon 
individual  sinners,  I  do  not  pretend  to  say."  f 

Returning,  now,  to  the  fuller  reply  of  Mr.  Dobney, 
we  find  it  to  be  this  ;  viz.,  in  proportion  to  the  sinner's 
guilt,  the  longer  he  may  be  in  dying,  and  the  greater 
the  attendant  suffering.  We  think  we  can  not  mistake 
his  idea  of  a  lingering  death.  He  evidently  means 
the  suffering  is  the  more  protracted  and  severe  in  pro- 
portion as  the  guilt  is  great.  Mr.  Hastings  seems  to  in- 
dorse the  view  in  the  passage  connected  with  what  we 
have  quoted. 

Perhaps  this  is  the  best  reply  that  the  case  admits. 
But,  specious  as  it  may  at  first  sight  appear,  it  is  thor- 
oughly suicidal.  For  (1),  in  supposing  a  protraction 
of  suffering  (and  therefore  of  existence)  in  proportion 
to  the  aggravation  of  the  guilt,  the  writer  contradicts 
his  own  first  principle  by  ascribing  to  sin  the  power 
to  prolong  existence.  A  degree  of  guilt  immense  and 
satanic  might  thus  have  the  power  to  extend  the  exist- 
ence beyond  all  conceivable  limits.  And  as  the  sinful 
state  continues  even  during  the  act  of  punishment, 
why,  on  the  same  principle,  should  not  the  successive 
(degrees  of  ill-desert  continue  to  protract  the  existence 
'beyond  each  present  infliction,  till  it  becomes  literally 
endless  ?  How  much  less  than  this  is  involved  in  Mr. 
Hastings's  admission,  that  "  it  took  some  six  hundred 
and    thirty  years    to  execute  the  death-penalty  pro- 

*  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  400.  f  Retribution,  p.  77. 


NEW    TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  269 

nounced  on  Adam  :  how  long  it  may  require  to  execute 
the  penalty  of  the  second  death  upon  individual  sin- 
ners, I  do  not  pretend  to  say  "  ?  Surely  these  words 
contain  a  marvelous  modification  of  the  original  aspect 
of  the  system,  which  describes  the  penalty  of  sin  as 
being  utterly  exterminated,  literally  cut  off,  burnt  up, 
brought  to  an  end,  and  the  like.  But  (2)  this  reply 
abandons  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  system ; 
namely,  that  the  one  grand  penalty  of  sin  is  extinc- 
tion. This  is  the  one  thing  into  which  every  form  of 
Scripture  threat  is  finally  resolved  :  every  thing  means 
extinction.  Much  of  the  arguing  of  these  writers  re- 
quires, too,  a  rapid  extinction.  The  whole  analogy  on 
which  it  turns  fails  them,  except  it  be  so  understood. 
Thus  all  those  phrases  like  "  grinding  to  powder," 
"  tearing  in  pieces,"  "  cutting  asunder,"  "  burned  up 
like  chaff,"  if  they  could  be  validly  used  at  all  in.  the 
material  sense  in  which  annihilationists  choose  to  take 
them,  equally  denote  an  instantaneous  extinction.  So 
these  very  writers  elsewhere  speak.  Mr.  Hastings  asks, 
"  What  was  the  effect  of  casting  bodies  into  this  fire  ?  " 
(the  fire  of  Hinnom.)  ..."  They  were  entirely  and 
totally  burned  to  ashes,  consumed,  burnt  up,  devoured 
by  fire  "  (the  Italics  are  his).  "Prom  this  considera- 
tion, we  should  conclude  that  the  future  gehenna  of  fire 
would  consume  and  destroy  utterly  every  thing  sub- 
mitted to  its  flames."  *  Ellis  and  Read  say,  "  The 
punishments  that  have  taken  place  in  gehenna  [i.e.,  the 
Valley  of  Hinnom]  destroyed  life,  and  the  torment  was 
never  protracted  beyond  a  day :  so  the  punishment 
that  will  take  place  in  gehenna  will  destroy  life  in  a 

*  Pauline  Theology,  p.  51. 


270  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

limited  period."  Again:  "We  have  now  examined 
every  passage  where  gehenna  is  named;  and  we  find  no 
expression  indicating  that  the  wicked  will  be  kept 
alive  in  torment,  but  we  do  find  a  place  where  they 
will  be  miserably  destroyed."  Blain  insists,  with  abun- 
dant reiteration,  that  "  the  fire  that  shall  not  be 
quenched  "  means  "  utter  destruction."  *  Hudson,  in 
speaking  of  these  terms,  "  unquenchable  fire,"  says, 
"  Any  mode  of  reasoning  which  would  infer  from  them 
the  immortality  of  the  lost  must  assume  the  indestruc- 
tibility of  chaff,  felled  trees,  and  of  the  dry  branches 
of  a  vine  ;  "  and  he  quotes  a  scholiast  on  Homer  as 
explaining  a  similar  phrase  to  mean  "  that  which  burns 
down  quickly,  or  is  quenched  with  difficulty." 

Under  all  the  forms  of  argument,  indeed,  the  system 
puts  forth  this  one  prime  fact,  that  the  doom  of  sin  is 
"destruction," — meaning,  thereby,  annihilation.  Mr. 
Hastings  even  prints  in  small  capitals  the  word  "  sud- 
den" in  the  passages  that  speak  of  "sudden  destruction" 
coming  upon  the  wicked  ;  and,  in  the  same  connection, 
he  lays  down  and  earnestly  maintains  the  proposition, 
that  "  punishment  is  not  always  in  proportion  to  the 
pain  endured,"  and  that  "  the  person  punished  may 
not  endure  torment  at  all."  f  He  does  indeed,  else- 
where, and  for  another  purpose,  maintain  that  all  the 
antecedent  sufferings  of  Adam's  life,  for  six  hundred 
and  thirty  years,  are  included  in  the  term  "  death."  % 
Yet,  if  there  be  any  specialty  in  the  system  at  all,  it 

*  Bible  vs.  Tradition,  pp.  84,  222,  22G. 

t  Pauline  Theology,  pp.  59,  60.  • 

X  Retribution,  p.  77.  The  reader  will  perceive  the  bearing  of  this  ad- 
mission on  the  system  that  elsewhere  so  narrows  I  be  meaning  of  the  term 
"death." 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  271 

consists  in  the  pertinacious  position,  that  extinction  is 
the  doom  of  sin.  But  here  we  have  a  sudden  aban- 
donment of  the  position,  and  a  recourse  to  the  com- 
mon view,  which  locates  punishment  in  suffering,  —  an 
abandonment  so  complete,  that  the  extinction  is  but  an 
incidental  feature  of  the  case,  while  the  suffering  in- 
flicted is  the  chief  thing  ;  "  the  degree  of  suffering  " 
being  "  exactly  proportioned  to  their  various  deserts." 
Such  is  the  dilemma  in  which  annihilationists  are  in- 
volved in  reply  to  the  difficulty. 

In  truth,  the  Scriptures  in  this  respect  make  the 
punishment  of  the  wicked  correspond  to  the  happiness 
of  the  righteous.  The  righteous  are  represented  as 
entering  on  a  state  of  blessedness,  varying  in  degree 
with  their  Christian  fidelity  and  attainments,  and  dif- 
fering as  "  one  star  differeth  from  another  star  in 
glory."  The  wicked  enter  on  a  state  where  their  di- 
verse degrees  of  guilt  shall  be  met  by  diverse  degrees 
of  suffering. 

2.  The  New  Testament  writers,  in  direct  terms,  con- 
stantly and  chiefly  represent  the  final  doom  of  sin  as  a 
state  of  great  suffering.  This  is  the  great  emphatic 
fact  which  they  put  forth,  the  fore-front  of  their  rep- 
resentation. It  is  described  as  a  doom,  terrific  not 
merely  in  general,  but  specially  terrific  for  its  anguish. 
The  utterances  on  this  point  are  varied  and  abundant. 

Thus  the  writer  to  the  Hebrews  describes  it  as  far 
more  terrible  than  that  natural  death  which  many  an- 
nihilationists declare  to  be  itself  the  only  doom.  "  He 
that  despised  Moses'  law  died  without  mercy  under 
two  or  three  witnesses :  of  how  much  sorer  punish- 
ment (jhqwoq  tifxaniag,  vengeance),  suppose  ye  shall  he 


272  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

be  thought  worthy  who  hath  trodden  under  foot  the 
Son  of  God  ?  ...  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  living  God  "  (Heb.  x.  28,  29,  31). 

In  Rom.  ii:  5-9,  Paul  still  more  specifically  defines  the 
nature  of  that  doom  which  makes  it  a  fearful  thing  to 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God,  and  informs  us 
how  the  "  wrath"  treasured  up  "against  the  day  of 
wrath  "  will  express  itself  in  the  infliction  of  intense 
suffering:  God  will  render  "indignation  and  wrath, 
tribulation  and  anguish,  upon  every  soul  of  man  that 
doeth  evil."  In  a  subsequent  verse  (12th),  he  uses  the 
word  "  perish  "  as  the  brief  equivalent  of  these  specific 
statements  ;  just  as  in  a  previous  verse  the  words 
"  glory,"  "  honor,"  "  incorruptibility"  (acp&oLQala),  find 
their  synonyme  in  the  phrase  "  eternal  life." 

In  2  Thess.  i.  6,  again,  he  calls  it  tribulation  :  "  See- 
ing it  is  a  righteous  thing  with  God  to  recompense 
tribulation  to  them  that  trouble  you."  This  tribula- 
tion is  the  same  thing  which  in  verse  8  he  phrases  "  in 
flaming  fire  taking  vengeance  on  them  that  know  not 
God  ;  "  and,  in  verse  9,  being  "  punished  with  everlast- 
ing destruction  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and 
from  the  glory  of  his  power."  In  the  last  quota- 
tion, the  expression,  "  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,"  is 
understood  by  Alford,  Lunemann,  and  others,  as  mean- 
ing "  apart  from  "  or  "  away  from  "  the  presence  of 
the  Lord.  But,  as  the  point  is  disputed,  we  need  not 
insist  upon  it. 

So  our  Saviour,  after  having  pronounced  his  blessings 
(Luke  vi.  21-23)  on  those  that  hunger  now  and  weep 
now,  and  are  hated  and  reproached, because  they  shall 
be  filled  and  shall  laugh,  and  whose  "  reward  is  great 


NEW   TESTAMENT  TEACHINGS.  273 

in  heaven,"  proceeds  (verses  24,  25)  to  pronounce  a 
woe  upon  those  whose  only  portion  is  in  this  life,  be- 
cause of  the  disconsolateness,  destitution,  mourning, 
and  weeping  hereafter:  "But  woe  unto  you  that  are 
rich !  for  ye  have  received  your  consolation.  Woe 
unto  you  that  are  full !  for  ye  shall  hunger.  Woe 
unto  you  that  laugh  now !  for  ye  shall  mourn  and 
weep." 

In  the  same  strain,  James  (v.  1-6),  anticipating  the 
"  miseries  "  of  the  ungodly  rich  in  "  the  last  days,"  at 
"  the  coming  of  the  Lord  "  (verse  7),  bids  them  weep 
and  howl  in  the  prospect,  and  warns  them  that  those 
ill-gotten  riches  shall  then  prove  a  torture  to  them  ; 
"  shall  eat  your  flesh  as  it  were  fire  ;  "  where  the  reader 
will  observe  that  fire  is  spoken  of  clearly  as  the  agent 
of  suffering :  "  Go  to,  now,  ye  rich  men,  weep  and 
howl  for  your  miseries  that  shall  come  upon  you.  .  .  . 
Your  gold  and  silver  is  cankered  ;  and  the  rust  of  them 
shall  be  a  witness  against  you,  and  shall  eat  your  flesh 
as  it  were  fire.  Ye  have  heaped  treasure  together  for 
the  last  days,"  etc. 

It  is  remarkable,  how,  under  whatever  image  future 
punishment  is  set  forth  in  the  New  Testament,  the  suf- 
fering of  the  state  is  almost  invariably  thrust  forth  as 
the  grand  feature  of  the  case  ;  sometimes  even  at  the 
expense  of  perfect  congruity  in  the  representation.  Is 
it  a  place  of  darkness,  a  furnace  of  fire,  a  debtor's 
prison,  a  banishment  from  the  feast,  a  cutting-asunder, 
a  lake  of  fire  ?  The  perpetual  comment  and  incessant 
burden  of  the  strain  is  the  resultant  woe.  Let  us  look 
at  the  subject  in  detail. 

In  three  several  instances,  our  Saviour  calls  the  state 

18 


274  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

or  abode  of  those  who  are  finally  excluded  from  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  "  the  outer  darkness."  In  eacli 
instance,  he  adds  the  one  fearful  and  emphatic  descrip- 
tion of  that  abode,  that  "  there  shall  be  weeping,  and 
gnashing  of  teeth. "  Thus  Matt.  viii.  11,  12  :  "  And  I 
say  unto  you,  that  many  shall  come  from  the  east  and 
the  west,  and  shall  sit  down  with  Abraham  and  Isaac 
and  Jacob  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  :  but  the  children 
of  the  kingdom  shall  be  cast  out  into  [the]  outer  dark- 
ness ;  there  [in  that  place,  txst]  shall  be  weeping, 
and  gnashing  of  teeth. "  Again,  in  describing  the  in- 
truding guest  at  the  wedding-feast  (Matt.  xxii.  13)  : 
"  Then  said  the  king  to  the  servants,  Bind  him  hand 
and  foot,  and  take  him  away,  and  cast  him  into  [the] 
outer  darkness  ;  there  [in  that  place]  shall  be  weep- 
ing, and  gnashing  of  teeth."  In  declaring  the  doom 
of  the  unprofitable  servant  (Matt.  xxv.  30)  :  "  And 
cast  ye  the  unprofitable  servant  into  [the]  outer 
darkness  ;  there  [txer]  shall  be  weeping,  and  gnash- 
ing of  teeth."  Such  was  our  Saviour's  sole  and 
fearful  comment  on  "  the  outer  darkness."  As  this 
outer  darkness  unquestionably  denotes  the  same  thing 
with  the  "  mist  of  darkness"  in  2  Pet.  ii.  17,  and  "  the 
blackness  of  darkness,"  Jude  13,  it  certainly  required 
no  little  hardihood  in  Mr.  Hudson  coolly  to  dismiss 
these  phrases  as  simply  synonymes  of  "  non-existence," 
"  blank  nothingness."  * 

Twice  the  Saviour  terms  the  condition  of  the  lost  a, 
or  rather  the,  furnace  of  fire.  But,  though  the  image 
is  just  the  opposite  of  the  preceding,  he  describes  the 
nature  of  the  abode  each  time  by  the  same  sole  and 

*  Debt  and  Grace,  pp.  208,  209. 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  211 

solemn  characteristic,  and  in  the  same  words:  "  Thcro 
shall  be  wailing,  and  gnashing  of  teeth  "  (Matt.  xiii. 
40-42).  "So  shall  it  be  at  the  end  of  this  world.  The 
Son  of  man  shall  send  forth  his  angels,  and  they  shall 
gather  out  of  his  kingdom  all  things  that  offend  and 
them  which  do  iniquity,  and  shall  cast  them  into  a 
[the  xi]v\  furnace  of  fire  ;  there  [£«?]  shall  be  wail- 
ing, and  gnashing  of  teeth."  Verses  49,  50 :  "  So 
shall  it  be  at  the  end  of  the  world  :  the  angels  shall 
come  forth  and  sever  the  wicked  from  among  the  just, 
and  shall  cast  them  into  the  furnace  of  fire  ;  there 
shall  be  wailing,  and  gnashing  of  teeth."  Certainly  it 
requires  some  exegetical  boldness  to  treat  this  repeated, 
deliberate,  and  solemn  description  —  the  sole  summing- 
up  of  the  whole  state  and  condition  —  as  a  mere  tran- 
sient incident  in  the  case.  But  we  have  not  done  with 
these  expressions. 

In  Matt.  xxiv.  50,  51,  the  Saviour  describes  their 
doom  as  having  their  "  portion  with  the  hypocrites," 
and  adds  the  same  sole  characterizing  remark :  "  The 
lord  of  that  servant  shall  come  in  a  day  when  he  look- 
eth  not  for  him,  and  in  an  hour  that  he  is  not  aware  of, 
and  shall  cut  him  asunder  [%orop/(yst,  cut  him  in  two], 
and  appoint  him  his  portion  with  the  hypocrites  ;  there 
(«xet)  shall  be  weeping,  and  gnashing  of  teeth."  Here 
"  the  hypocrites  "  have  a  portion,  —  of  which  the  one 
characteristic  is  that  it  is  a  doom  of  suffering,  —  to 
which,  in  conjunction  with  them,  the  unfaithful  servant 
is  consigned,  after  an  infliction  ("  cutting  asunder  "), 
which,  according  to  annihilationist  interpretation,  would 
be  extinction. 

Yet  once  more  (Luke  xiii.  28)  our  Lord  describes 


276  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

the  condition  of  those  who  are  excluded  from  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  by  the  same  terse  and  solitary  com- 
ment. He  had  been  exhorting  his  hearers,  "  Strive 
to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate,"  and  warning  them  of 
the  hopelessness  of  their  longing  desires  when  once  the 
Master  of  the  house  hath  risen  up  and  hath  shut  to 
the  door  ;  and  he  proceeds  :  "  There  shall  be  weeping, 
and  gnashing  of  teeth,  when  ye  shall  see  Abraham 
and  Isaac  and  Jacob  and  all  the  prophets  in  the  king- 
dom of  God,  and  you  yourselves  thrust  out." 

In  another  place,  the  Saviour  represents  the  doom 
of  the  wicked  under  the  form  of  an  imprisonment  in 
suffering,  a  delivering  to  "  the  tormentors."  The  par- 
able of  the  merciless  servant  concludes  thus  (Matt., 
xviii.  34,  35)  :  "  And  his  lord  was  wroth,  and  delivered 
him  to  the  tormentors  till  he  should  pay  all  that  was 
due  unto  him.  So  likewise  shall  my  heavenly  Father  do 
also  unto  you,  if  ye  from  your  hearts  forgive  not  every 
one  his  brother  their  trespasses."  The  word  translated 
"  tormentors  "  (paaaviatalg)  is  correctly  rendered.  It 
designated  torturers,  officers  who  inflicted  or  superin- 
tended the  process  of  bodily  torture.  The  word,  it  is 
believed,  has  no  other  known  use.  Some  commentators, 
and  with  them  Robinson's  Lexicon,  have  endeavored 
to  soften  the  term  to  a  simple  synonyme  for  prison 
keeper,  but  without  any  authority.* 

*  On  this  whole  subject  of  torture,  see  the  article  (3daavog  in  Smith's 
Dictionary  of  Antiquities.  The  writer  sets  out  with  the  word  (3uoavoc, 
which  he  defines  as  "  the  general  term  among  the  Athenians  for  the  ap- 
plication of  torture."  It  was  sometimes  employed  in  punishment,  and  was 
invariably  used  in  examining  slaves.  "  The  parties  interested  either  super- 
intended the  torture  themselves,  or  chose  certain  persons  for  this  purpose; 
hence  called  fiaaaviaraV     Olshausen  is  constrained  to  admit  the  meaning 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  277 

In  like  manner,  as  we  have  already  seen  previously, 
the  lake  of  fire  in  which  all  classes  of  evil-doers  shall 
have  their  part  (Rev.  xxi.  8)  is  the  place  of  "  torment 
for  ever  and  ever  "  (Rev.  xx.  10). 

We  are  also  assured  (Rev.  xiv.  9-11),  "  If  any  man 
worship  the  beast  and  his  image,  and  receive  his  mark 
in  his  forehead  or  in  his  hand,  the  same  shall  drink  of 
the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  God  which  is  poured  out  with- 
out mixture  into  the  cup  of  his  indignation  ;  and  he 
shall  be  tormented  with  fire  and  brimstone  in  the  pres- 
sence  of  the  holy  angels,  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
Lamb.  And  the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  up 
for  ever  and  ever,  and  they  have  no  rest  day  nor 
night,  who  worship  the  beast  and  his  image,  and  who- 
soever receiveth  the  mark  of  his  name."  Here  the 
general  statement  of  experiencing  God's  wrath  be- 
comes particularized  into  the  definite  infliction  of  ter- 
rific and  endless  suffering,  and  this  made  still  more 

of  the  word,  though  endeavoring  to  break  its  force.  He  renders  it  "  the  tor- 
mentors," and  proceeds  to  say,  "  The  (3aaaviaral,  torturers  are,  according 
to  the  connection,  the  guardians  of  the  prison,  who  also  were  certainly  em- 
ployed to  inflict  torture.  There  were,  however,  no  special  racks  or  tortures 
provided  for  debtors."  Yes;  but  here  was  a  malignant  debtor,  punished  not 
for  his  debt,  which  would  have  been  remitted,  but  for  his  malignity.  Our 
Lord  is  representing  a  moral  offense,  —  an  offense  against  God ;  and,  as 
usual,  he  molds  the  customs  of  men  into  such  shapes  as  will  express  his 
higher  principles.  It  was  characteristic  enough  for  Kuinoel,  but  unworthy 
of  a  commentator  like  Olshausen,  to  evade  the  acknowledged  meaning  of 
the  language  by  such  a  remark.  He  might  as  well  object  to  the  teaching 
of  the  same  parable  concerning  God's  willingness  to  forgive,  that  there  was 
no  such  custom  among  the  Jews,  Greeks,  or  Romans,  as  freely  remitting  a 
debt  of  ten  thousand  talents,  —  in  truth,  no  such  debts  owed  byserva;.is 
to  their  masters;  or,  in  the  parable  of  the  laborers  hired  for  a  penny  a  day, 
that  there  was  no  such  usage  as  paying  men  equally  for  one  hour  as  for  a 
day's  work.  It  is  a  paltry  objection.  Accordingly,  Bengel,  Meyer,  Alford, 
adhere  to  the  only  known  meaning  of  the  word  "  tormentors,"  or  torturers. 


278  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

distinct  by  the  statement  that  it  is  a  suffering  from 
which  there  is  no  interval  of  rest. 

Messrs.  Dobney,  Ellis,  and  Hudson  adopt  the  bold 
expedient  of  denying  that  this  threat  has  any  reference? 
to  the  future  world ;  the  last-mentioned  writer  aiding 
himself  by  citing,  in  his  "Debt  and  Grace,"  only  the  last 
one  of  the  three  verses,  and,  in  his  "  Christ  our  Life," 
the  last  two.  The  passage,  he  remarks,  "  refers  to  the 
scenes  of  time,  and  not  to  the  final  judgment." 

It  would  certainly  be  far  easier  to  show  that  the  Sa- 
viour's threat  (Luke  xii.  9),  "  He  that  denieth  me  be- 
fore men  shall  be  denied  before  the  angels  of  God," 
refers  to  the  scenes  of  time.  No  doubt  the  scenes  and 
circumstances  in  which  the  offense  is  committed,  are, 
as  in  all  cases  of  sin  threatened  with  future  penalties, 
among  the  scenes  of  time.  The  punishment  bears 
every  mark  of  being  the  great  final  punishment,  1. 
When  we  consider  the  character  of  the  offense,  one  of 
the  greatest  description.  The  beast  is  now  generally 
conceded  to  be  the  persecuting  sacerdotal  power, —  the 
fiercest  form  of  antagonism  to  Christianity.  To  wor- 
ship him,  or  to  receive  his  mark,  is,  therefore,  devoted 
adhesion  to  this  fierce  opposition.  It  is  not  merely  to 
deny  Christ  before  men,  but  to  persecute  him.*  It  is 
an  offense  committed,  not  by  sj^mbolical  personages,  but 
by  individual  offenders.  Is  there  any  thing  in  such  an 
offense  to  justify  or  require  our  restraining  the  terrific 

*  It  makes  no  difference  whether  we  understand  this  sacerdotal  power  as 
both  heathen  and  Christian  (with  Alford  and  Auberlen),or  as  simply  heathen 
(with  De  Wette,  Hengstenberg,  Diisterdieck,  Stuart,  and  others).  The  force 
of  the  argument  will  not  be  destroyed,  even  were  we  to  adopt  Mr.  Hudson's 
explanation,  that  the  sin  is  "  the  conduct  of  idolatrous  people,"  though  the 
interpretation  is  of  the  thinnest. 


NEW   TESTAMENT  TEACHINGS.  279 

language  of  the  threat  from  its  full,  tremendous  sweep  ? 
2.  In  the  terms  employed  to  describe  the  punishment, 
(a)  it  is  eternal  in  duration,  —  "  for  ever  and  ever  ;  " 
and  that  the  eternity  is  one  of  continuing  suffering,  is 
proved  by  the  subsequent  statement,  "  they  have  no 
rest  day  nor  night."  (6)  The  words  "  tormented  with 
fire  and  brimstone  "  manifestly  refer  to  the  same  thing 
as  having  their  "  part  in  the  lake  which  burnetii  with 
fire  and  brimstone,  which  is  the  second  death."  (c) 
The  accumulation  of  the  intensest  expressions  in  four- 
fold mode,  commencing  with  "  the  wine  of  the  wrath 
of  God,  poured  out  without  mixture  into  the  cup  of 
his  indignation,"  is  such  as  is  nowhere  surpassed,  if 
equaled,  in  the  Bible  descriptions  of  future  punishment. 
(d)  The  punishment  is  also  clearly  carried  into  the 
other  world  by  the  statement  that  it  is  "  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  holy  angels  and  of  the  Lamb."  3.  In  the 
marked  correspondence  of  the  passage  to  numerous 
others  which  evidently  refer  to  the  other  world.  Be- 
sides those  which  have  been  mentioned,  we  are  at  once 
reminded  of  such  passages  as  the  promise  (Rev.  iii.  5), 
"  I  will  confess  his  name  before  my  Father  and  before 
his  angels ; "  of  the  general  announcement  of  a  final 
retribution  (Matt.  xvi.  27),  "  For  the  Son  of  man 
shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his  Father,  with  his  angels, 
and  then  shall  he  reward  every  man  according  to  his 
works ; "  and  of  the  combined  promise  and  threat 
(Luke  xii.  8,  9),  "Whosoever  shall  confess  me  before 
men,  him  shall  the  Son  of  man  also  confess  before -the 
anscls  of  God  ;  but  he  that  denioth  me  before  men 
shall  bo  denied  before  the  angels  of  God."  Also  2 
Thoss.  i.  7,  8  :  "  The  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  rovcaled  from 


280  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

neaven  with  his  mighty  angels,  in  flaming  fire  taking 
vengeance  on  them  that  know  not  God."  In  the  in- 
tensity of  its  expressions  concerning  God's  wrath,  the 
passage  also  stands  closely  associated  with  those  other 
passages  concerning  "  the  wrath  to  come,"  "  the  day 
of  wrath,"  "  the  great  day  of  his  wrath,"  "  the  vessels 
of  wrath  :  "  those  assertions,  that  "  the  wrath  of  God 
abideth  on  "  those  who  do  not  believe  in  the  Son ;  that 
he  will  render  "  indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation  and 
anguish,"  -in  the  day  when  he  shall  judge  the  world  ; 
that  "  for  these  things  the  wrath  of  God  cometh  on 
the  children  of  disobedience,"  and  the  like.  In  short, 
if  this  passage  does  not  refer  to  the  punishment  of  the 
future  world,  if  would  be  hard  to  find  one  that  can  be 
shown  to  have  that  reference.  Accordingly,  scholarly 
commentators,  rationalists  included,  almost  without 
exception  (such  men,  e.g.,  as  Bengel,  De  Wette,  Heng- 
stenberg,  Alford,  Stuart,  Diisterdieck,  Graeber),  have 
found  this  to  be  one  of  the  clearest  passages  in  the 
Bible  on  the  subject  of  future  suffering. 

All  these  utterances  are  unequivocal :  they  depend 
on  no  inferences  from  ambiguous  terms  ;  but,  in  the 
most  direct  and  emphatic  manner,  they  set  forth  the 
final  doom  of  sin  under  the  one  great  aspect  of  suffer- 
ing, woe.  In  the  present  connection,  we  cite  but  one 
more  passage,  somewhat  less  explicit  in  word,  and  yet 
equally  clear  and  significant  in  fact. 

Mark  ix.  42-48 :  "  And  whosoever  shall  offend  one 
of  these  little  ones  which  believe  on  me,  it  is  better  for 
him  that  a  millstone  were  hanged  about  his  neck,  and 
he  were  cast  into  the  sea.  And  if  thy  hand  offend  thee, 
cut  it  off:  it  is  better  for  thee  to  enter  into  life  maimed, 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  281 

than,  having  two  hands,  to  go  [depart  aTteXdeiv"]  into  hell 
[ysewav],  into  the  fire  that  never  shall  be  quenched 
[uapsatov  unquenchable]  (where  their  worm  dieth  not, 
and  the  fire  is  not  quenched).  And  if  thy  foot  offend 
thee,  cut  it  off:  it  is  better  for  thee  to  enter  ha)t  into 
life,  than,  having  two  feet,  to  be  cast  into  hell  (into  the 
lire  that  never  shall  be  quenched  ;  where  their  worm 
dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched).  And  if  thine 
eye  offend  thee,  pluck  it  out :  it  is  better  for  thee  to 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God  with  one  eye,  than, 
having  two  eyes,  to  be  cast  into  hell-fire  ;  where  their 
worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched." 

To  avoid  all  complication  with  any  doubtful  reading, 
we  have  marked  with  parentheses,  and  propose  not  to 
make  use  of,  certain  portions  of  this  passage  which  are 
wanting  in  some  four  or  five  out  of  seventeen  uncial 
manuscripts,  and  which  are  dropped  from  the  text  by 
Teschendorf,  though  retained  by  Lachmann  and  Al- 
ford.* 

Here,  again,  no  evasion  can  hide  from  the  reader  the 
fact,  that  the  grand  representation  involved  is  the  hoiv- 
ribleness  of  the  condition  into  which  the  wicked  must 
depart.  First  is  the  solemn  warning,  that  it  were  far 
better  to  be  drowned  in  the  sea  before  committing  the 
sin  of  misleading  Christ's  little  ones.     Then  comes  the 

*  Alford  insists  on  retaining  the  text  as  in  our  version,  and  characterizes 
the  omissions  as  corrections  by  the  copyists,  easily  accounted  for.  The  au- 
thorities are  as  follows :  for  retaining,  uncial  manuscripts  A,  D,  E,  F,  G,  H, 
K,  M,  S,  U,V,  X,  T,  most  cursive  manuscripts  (a  large  number),  most  of  the 
Latin  versions  before  Jerome,  the  Vulgate,  Gothic,  Ethiopic,  both  Syriac 
versions,  and  others,  Augustine,  Irenseus;  against  it  are  only  B,  C,  L,  A, 
with  cursives  1,  28,  118,  251,  255,  2  po,  one  Latin  version  (out  cf  some  sev- 
enteen), the  Coptic  and  Armenian,  to  which  must  now  be  add(  d  the  Codex 
Sinaiticus. 


282  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

admonition  to  sacrifice,  at  whatever  cost  of  jain  and 
loss,  rather  than  encounter  the  doom  in  question.  And, 
finally,  we  have  an  accumulation  of  images  of  woe  and 
terror  connected  with  the  doom  itself:  it  is  gehenna, 
the  gehenna  of  fire,  the  fire  unquenchable,  the  death- 
less worm,  and  the  fire  that  is  not  quenched. 

The  parallel  passage  in  Matt,  xviii.  8  has  also  "  ever- 
lasting fire."  Let  now  the  reader  bear  in  mind  the 
Scripture's  own  corresponding  phraseology, "  tormented 
in  this  flame,"  "  tormented  with  fire  and  brimstone  for 
ever  and  ever,"  "  shall  eat  your  flesh  as  it  were  fire  ; " 
let  him  observe  the  stress  which  is  laid  upon  the 
interminableness  here  asserted  in  at  least  four  different 
forms, —  unquenchable,  that  is  not  quenched,  ever- 
lasting, that  never  dies  ;  let  him  note  the  horror  of 
the  images  employed  in  themselves,  and  their  incom- 
patibility except  as  they  are  images  of  horror,  —  un- 
quenchable fire  and  undying  worm  ;  let  him  observe 
how  this  accumulated  terror  is  addressed  in  solemn 
warning  to  the  individual  sinner,  as  a  doom  which  he  is 
not  only  to  behold,  but  to  experience,  —  and  he  can  not 
doubt  the  aim  of  the  passage  as  a  declaration  of  dread- 
ful woe  in  the  other  world. 

The  cavils  against  this  obvious  meaning  rise  through 
all  grades,  from  the  lowest.  As  to  the  endlessness  of 
the  infliction,  among  other  things,  Mr.  Dobney  (page 
208)  suggests  that  the  fire  is  called  unquenchable,  "  not 
as  absolutely  and  in  itself  inextinguishable,  but  rela- 
tively to  the  object  cast  into  it ;  "  whereas  Matthew  ex- 
presses it  in  the  parallel  passage  as  "  the  everlasting  fire" 
(to  TtvQ  to  auoviov).  Ellis  and  Read  have  a  ready  device 
to  meet  this  difficulty ;  for,  with  their  accustomed  schol- 


NEW   TESTAMENT  TEACHINGS.  283 

arship,  they  translate  the  latter  phrase  (p.  221),  "the 
fire  of  the  age."  Not  quite  satisfied  with  this,  they 
suggest  (p.  222),  that,  "even  supposing  the  original 
would  bear  this  construction  [namely,  that  of  the  com- 
mon translation],  it  would  only  imply  that  the  instru- 
ment of  the  punishment  would  be  perpetual ; "  as 
though  the  Saviour  had  employed  such  reiterated  and 
tremendous  emphasis  to  establish  in  his  solemn  warning 
merely  the  proposition  that  a  fire  should  burn  on,  and 
a  worm  live  on,  for  ever.  But  here  Mr.  Hudson  comes 
to  the  rescue  :  "  It  is  not  the  immortality  of  the  indi- 
vidual soul,  but  the  multitude  of  those  who  finally  per- 
ish, that  challenges  the  unquenched  fire  and  the  un- 
failing worm  "  (Debt  and  Grace,  p.  199).  Without 
pausing  to  inquire  into  the  consistency  of  the  admission 
with  some  of  his  other  arguings  on  the  subject,*  it  is 
enough  to  say  that  this  material  conception  is  not  only 
false  to  the  original  declaration,  but  just  perverts  the 
whole  force  of  the  passage  from  a  terrific  warning  to 
the  individual  sinner  into  a  general  remark  about  the 
immense  multitude  of  those  who  shall  finally  perish. 
To  what  purpose  did  the  Saviour  use  that  emphasis  of 
threefold  reiteration,  "  the  unquenchable  fire,  the  fire 
that  is  not  quenched,  the  deathless  worm  "  ?     Was  it 

*  Three  pages  later  (p.  202),  this  writer  takes  a  different,  and,  it  would 
seem,  incompatible  position.  "  The  former  (ao(3eoToc)  describes  the  fierce- 
ness and  all-consuming  violence  of  the  fire;  the  latter  (tauvioc),  its  irrepara- 
ble effect.  The  eternal  fire  is  that  which  destroys  utterly  and  for  ever."  Thus 
an  eternal  fire  becomes  the  briefest  fire  conceivable.  Mr.  Hastings  advances 
an  interpretation  of  the  unquenchable  or  unquenched  fire  equally  character- 
istic. The  result  he  reaches  makes  it  one  of  a  class  of  fires  which  "  have 
not  been  quenched,  but,  having  accompMshed  their  end,  have  ceased  to  burn  " 
(Pauline  Theology,  p.  52).  And  this  equivocation  we  are  to  understand  as 
exhausting  the  force  of  Christ's  solemn  declaration! 


284  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

to  describe  as  matter  of  information  the  number  of  tlie 
lost  ?  or  was  it  to  bring  home  the  terror  of  future  pun- 
ishment to  the  individual  ?  To  ask' the  question  is  to 
answer  it.  There  could  not  be  a  grosser  deviation  from 
the  intent  of  the  utterance  than  Mr.  Hudson  has  ad- 
vanced. It  is  vain  for  him  to  say  that  his  explanation 
brings  home  the  terror  of  the  scene  to  the  individual : 
for  his  theory  is  that  the  individual  is  extinguished  by 
the  fierceness  of  the  flame  ;  he  is  not  there  as  a  spec- 
tator to  witness  it. 

But  a  more  specious  objection  is  raised  from  the 
origin  of  the  phraseology  in  question.  It  is  alleged, 
truly,  that  the  particular  mode  of  expression  is  drawn 
from  Isa.  lxvi.  24 ;  and  it  is  maintained  that  "  the  words 
by  their  own  force  can  prove  no  more  in  the  one  case 
than  in  the  other.  If  they  properly  signify  or  imply 
immortality  in  the  New  Testament,  they  will  do  the 
same  in  the  Old  Testament  "  (Christ  our  Life,  p.  97). 
The  case  is  .  artfully  stated  ;  for  we  never  decide  the 
meaning  of  declarations  merely  by  "  the  proper  force 
of  the  words,"  but  also  by  the  scope,  connection,  and 
subject. 

But  to  go  into  the  details  of  the  argument.  It  is 
said  (p.  98)  :  "  As  worms  and  fire  utterly  consume  a 
dead  body;  so,  if  the  antitype  be  true  to  the  type,  the 
two  passages  furnish  the  liveliest  picture  and  the  strong- 
est proof  of  the  utter  extinction  of  the  lost."  Here  is 
the  main  argument  of. the  whole  body  of  annihilation- 
ists  on  this  subject.  It  is  the  fundamental  principle 
of  the  system.  And  its  unsoundness  appears  at  once 
from  the  fact  that  it  necessarily  cuts  off  the  possibility 
of  imaging  forth  any  other  penal  transaction  than  a 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  285 

transient  one,  and  forcibly  turns  all  such  representa- 
tions into  images  of  extinction  ;  for  the  reason  that 
every  process  in  a  temporal  world  is  temporary,  and 
each  process  here  that  is  most  terrific  and  painful  is 
incidentally  the  most  short-lived.  Dissolution  most 
speedily  attends  it.  The  system  thus  insists  on  drag- 
ging every  thing  to  this  material  standard,  and  lays 
down  a  principle  which  beforehand  precludes  our  find- 
ing any  threat  of  punishment  consistent  with  immor- 
tality ;  whereas  the  Scriptures  everywhere  use  and 
must  use  the  imperfect  types  of  this  world  to  express 
the  complete  and  perfect  things  of  the  other.  As,  on 
the  one  hand,  a  perishable  city  typifies  a  heavenly  home, 
a  passing  inheritance  in  Palestine  an  endless  possession 
of  blessedness,  and  the  pleasures  of  feasting,  which  so 
soon  reach  satiety  and  loathing,  continually  represent 
those  joys  that  never  pall ;  so,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
abode,  condition,  sufferings,  of  the  lost,  are  everywhere 
set  forth  in  forms  of  horrors  so  intense,  that,  from  the 
very  constitution  of  things  here,  they  are  transient.  But 
the  Scriptures  everywhere  correct  this  incidental 
defect  in  the  type  by  statements  indicative  of  the 
eternity  of  the  antitype ;  and  these  expressions  of 
eternity  the  annihilationists  continually  overrule.  They 
override  them,  and  rule  them  out,  on  the  ground  that 
the  figures  connected  with  them,  and  which  they  en- 
deavor to  extend,  have  these  incidental  defects.  The 
words  are  not  permitted  to  perform  the  use  for  which 
they  were  designed,  simply  because  they  have  such  a 
use. 

But  to  meet  the  objection  directly.     The  original 
passage  in  Isa.  lxvi.  24  is  not  a  picture  of  annihilation, 

Z 


286  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

but  of  visible  continuous  horror.  1.  Such  is  the  com- 
ment of  the  passage  itself.  After  announcing  that 
these  victims  of  God's  vengeance  shall  lie  without 
the  city,  to  be  viewed  by  its  holy  inhabitants,  while 
"their  worm  shall  not  die,  neither  shall  their  fire  be 
quenched,"  the  next  words  are,  "  and  they  shall  be  an 
abhorring  unto  all  flesh."  2.  Such  is  the  nature  of  the 
scene  in  which  it  is  found :  it  describes  a  permanent 
state  of  things  ;  it  is  laid  in  Messianic  times  ;  it  is  the 
holy  mountain  Jerusalem  (verse  20)  with  "  the  new 
heavens  and  the  new  earth,"  and  "  a  seed,"  which 
shall  be  equally  permanent  (verse  22).  From  month 
to  month,  and  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath  (a  permanent 
arrangement),  "  shall  all  flesh  come  to  worship  before 
me,  saith  the  Lord"  (verse  23).  In  connection  with 
this  everlasting  state  of  things,  the  next  announcement 
is,  "  they  [the  inhabitants  of  this  holy  mountain]  shall 
go  forth  [non  loco,  sed  contemplatione ,  Calvin],  and  look 
upon  the  carcasses  of  the  men  that  have  transgressed 
against  me  ;  for  their  worm,"  etc.  It  is  a  sight  coeval 
with  the  other  facts  and  scenes  of  this  Messianic  state. 
3.  The  phraseology  itself  conforms  to  the  connection, 
and  compels  this  view.  What  need  of  an  eternal 
agency  to  perform  a  work  of  dissolution  that  Nature 
alone  quickly  accomplishes  ?  A  transient  fire  will  soon 
reduce  a  body  to  ashes :  the  perishing  worm  is  ade- 
quate to  the  work  of  speedy  decay.  But  that  "  their 
worm  that  shall  not  die  "  can  fairly  signify  here  noth- 
ing short  of  an  eternal  corrosion  ;  and  that  "  their 
fire  shall  not  be  quenched  "  can  signify  in  this  connec- 
tion no  less  than  an  endless  combustion.  The  phra- 
seology employed  precisely  conforms  to  the  perpetuity 


NEW   TESTAMENT  TEACHINGS.  287 

of  the  scene  of  which  it  describes  a  part.  4.  The  iu 
terprctation  of  the  Jews  before  Christ  to  this  effect  may 
be  seen  in  the  apocryphal  books  of  Judith  and  Sirach. 
Thus  (Judith  xvi.  20,  21)  :  "  Woe  be  to  the  nation 
that  riseth  up  against  my  people ;  for  the  Lord  Almighty 
will  take  revenge  upon  them  :  in  the  day  of  judgment 
he  will  visit  them  ;  for  he  will  give  fire  and  worms  into 
their  flesh,  that  they  may  burn  and  may  feel  for  ever  " 
(xavaovtai  tv  aladijasi  tag  alwvog,  burn  with  feeling  or  in 
consciousness  for  ever).  So,  more  briefly,  Sirach  vii. 
19 :  "  The  vengeance  on  the  £esh  of  the  ungodly  is 
fire  and  worms."  5.  The  ablest  modern  commenta- 
tors, especially  those  who  are  untrammeled  by  any  con- 
sideration but  the  meaning  of  the  text,  take  this  view 
without  hesitation.  Thus  Knobel,  one  of  the  latest  and 
keenest  of  the  German  rationalists  :  "  The  bodies  of 
the  fallen  remain  unburicd  for  their  punishment ;  and 
Jehovah  will  cause  that  they,  still  having  feeling  (Job 
xiv.  22),  shall  be  incessantly  and  painfully  eaten  by 
worms,  and  that  the  fire  by  which  he  has  slain  them 
shall  burn  perpetually,  and  cause  them  lasting  suffer- 
ing." Maurer,  also  a  rationalist,  simply  quotes  as  his 
interpretation  the  two  before-cited  passages  from  Ju- 
dith and  Sirach  of  the  Apocrypha.  Rosenmiiller  un- 
derstands, that,  like  dead  bodies,  the  living  shall  be 
continually  eaten  by  worms.  He  adds,  however,  that 
others,  as  Vitringa  and  Gesenius,  hold  that,  to  the  gen- 
eral figure  drawn  from  the  fires  in  the  valley  of  the 
sons  of  Hinnom,  "  the  prophet  adds  another  figure," 
of  dead  bodies  gradually  eaten  and  devoured  by  worms; 
and  to  these  dead  bodies  themselves,  sensibility  is  at- 
tributed.    Certainly,  in  this  sense,  the  passage  is  by 


288  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

our  Lord  transferred  to  the  punishment  of  the  wicked 
condemned  after  death  to  eternal  flames."  Meyer, 
also,  in  his  comment  on  the  passage  as  it  stands  in 
Mark  ix.,  fully  sustains  the  view  :  "  A  figurative  de- 
signation of  most  painful  and  endless  hell-punish- 
ments (not  merely  pains  of  conscience)  after  Isa.  lxvi. 
24  ;  compare  Sirach  vii.  19,  Judith  xvi.  21.  Against 
the  literal  understanding  of  the  worm  and  fire,  it  is 
conclusive  that  they  are,  in  fact, incompatible  together." 
The  truth  is,  that  the  prophet,  as  in  so  many  other 
instances,  under  the  guidance  of  a  higher  power,  rises 
to  a  remarkable  and  unheard-of  conception,  and  em- 
ploys language  already  fitted  for  the  uses  of  the  gos- 
pel ;  and  the  Saviour  needs  make  no  change  in  the 
phraseology  to  express  thereby  the  endless  sufferings 
of  the  lost.  That  the  Saviour  does  so  employ  it,  we 
have  sufficiently  shown.  No  tampering  with  the  edges 
of  the  declaration  can  escape  the  emphasis  of  his  repe- 
tition, —  the  use  of  the  parallel  word  eternal,  —  and 
the  point  of  his  solemn  warning  addressed  to  the  indi- 
vidual offender  to  escape  such  accumulated  woe.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  great  body  of  commentators  who  have 
any  standing  as  scholars  or  critics,  whether  orthodox 
or  rationalist,  have  recognized  the  Saviour's  utterance 
as  a  clear  designation,  in  word  at  least,  of  endless  suf- 
ferings.* t 
*  We  cite  one  other  passage,  Matt.  xxv.  46:  "And 
these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment ;  but 
the  righteous,  into  life  eternal."  In  connection  with  this 

*  An  attempt  to  sustain  the  annihilationist  view  by  a  passage  of  Euse- 
bius  in  which  irvp  aa/3eoroc  occurs  twice,  and  by  other  citations,  is  examined 
in  Note  F,  Appendix. 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  289 

must  be  taken  the  previous  verse  (41st)  :  "  Then  shall 
he  say  also  unto  them  on  the  left  hand,  Depart  from 
me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the 
devil  and  his  angels. "  That  the  punishment  (xolaoig 
dmviog)  is  suffering,  not  extinction,  will  appear  in  sev- 
eral ways.  1.  We  might  properly  appeal  to  the  very 
idea  of  punishment.  It  is  in  some  way,  always,  the 
infliction  of  suffering.  Deprivation  is  suffering,  while 
there  is  a  living  being  to  feel  that  suffering.  Death  is 
suffering,  not  alone  in  the  pangs  of  decease,  but  in 
the  extreme  terror  that  it  brings  to  the  living  in  view 
both  of  those  pains,  and  of  the  dread  scenes  that  are 
to  follow.*  Even  extinction,  in  so  far  as  it  would  be 
punishment  at  all,  would  be  so  only  in  so  far  as  the 
expectation  of  it,  and  the  process,  would  be  productive 
of  suffering.  2.  Classic  usage  sustains  this  funda- 
mental idea.  The  verb  to  punish  (xoXd^co)  is  used 
throughout  the  classics  in  connection  with  the  agencies 
of  suffering.  Thus,  Passow  give  instances  of  only 
these  connections :  to  punish  with  words,  with  blows, 
with  death,  with  the  severest  vengeance  (xiimoqUus) ,  to 
be  punished  by  one's  sins.  And  the  noun  xolaatg  in 
Plutarch  is  synonymous  with  npcoQia,  —  the  two  words 
being  the  two  common  words,  if  not  the  only  ones,  used 
to  express  the  infliction  of  suffering  for  wrong-doing.f 


*  Mr.  Hudson  endeavors  to  conceal  this  important  but  palpable  fact,  and 
argues  as  though  a  case  of  punishment  by  death  were  a  refutation  of  the 
idea  of  suffering.  See  Reviewers  Reviewed,  p.  32,  etc. ;  Debt  and  Grace, 
p.  192. 

t  As  to  the  reading,  there  is  no  variation.    The  conjectures  to  which  Mr. 
Hudson  devotes  half  a  page,  while  as  usual  protesting  that  he  will  not  "  raise 
any  question  of  the  genuineness  of  the  text,"  have  no  foundation  whatever, 
and  are  now  rejected  by  all  respectable  authorities  as  baseless. 
19 


290  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

3.  New  Testament  usage ,  favors  the  meaning.  The 
only  other  use  of  the  noun  xolcung  occurs  in  1  John  ix. 
18:  "  Because  fear  hath  torment,"  xoXaciv*  Mr.  Hud- 
son's statement  that  "  the  translation  of  the  word 
[here]  by  '  torment '  is  nearly,  if  not  wholly,  without 
parallel,  and  is  unsupported  by  lexicographers,"  has  a 
verbal  correctness,  and  no  more.  The  word  "  torment " 
is  perhaps  not  used  ;  but  the  idea  of  suffering  inflicted — 
of  chastisement — is  supported  by  lexicographers,  and  is 
now  defended  in  this  particular  passage  by  most  of  the 
latest  and  best  scholars  ;  and  his  attempt  to  substi- 
tute "  restraint "  is,  so  far  as  we  know,  without  sup- 
port either  in  form  or  in  fact.  Passow's  only  defini- 
tion of  the  word,  as  applied  to  men,  is  "  chastisement, 
punishment,  by  words  or  acts."  Huther  (in  1861)  thus 
sums  up  the  case :  "  The  word  xolaoig  always  has  the 
signification, '  punishment.'  This  signification  most  in- 
terpreters firmly  retain  in  the  present  instance,  though 
they  deviate  from  each  other  variously  in  the  nearer 
determination  of  the  thought.  Thus  Liicke  explains, 
consciousness  of  punishment ;  De  Wette  paraphrases 
4  has,'  by  '  receives,'  punishment ;  Dusterdieck,  '  has 
already  punishment,  i.e.  condemnation.'  Ebrard  trans- 
lates xolaaig  '  pain  ; '  Lange,  *  Fear  is  a  painful  feeling ; ' 
Besser,  'the  pain  of  punishment'"  (Strafpein)  :  to 
which  Huther  himself  accedes,  explaining  "  the  pain 
which  one  experiences  in  expectation  of  being  punished 
by  him  whom  he  fears."  So  much  for  authorities  on 
the  meaning  of  the  word  in  that  passage.  It  occurs 
nowhere    else    in    the   New  Testament.      The   verb 

*  For  a  further  examination  of  nokaaig ,  see  Note  G, Appendix. 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  291 

xold&fiai  is  found  only  in  Acts  iv.  21  and  2  Pet.  ii.  9 ; 
and  in  both  cases  has,  by  universal  admission  of  com- 
mentators, it  is  believed,  the  sense  of  "  punish."  In 
both  instances,  very  clearly  in  the  former,  it  bears  the 
aspect  of  the  infliction  of  suffering.*  4.  The  con- 
nected phraseology  employed  is  decisive.  It  is  ever- 
lasting' fire,  everlasting  punishment.  Instantaneous 
punishment,  overwhelming  fire,  might  be  consistent 
with  annihilation ;  but  the  reiterated  statement,  that 
the  process  is  eternal,  agrees  only  with  a  punishment 
which  consists  in  some  form  of  suffering.  The  only 
mode  of  escape  is  in  the  hardihood  which  vacates  the 
word  "  everlasting,''  in  both  instances,  of  its  legitimate 
meaning  (as  in  all  other  cases  of  the  kind),  and  makes  it 
signify  something  else,  as  final,  irreversible.  The 
strength  of  the  case  is  increased  by  the  additional  fact, 
that  precisely  the  same  phraseology  is  used  in  the  same 
breath  to  denote  the  duration  of  the  happiness  of  the 
righteous  :  it  is  in  both  cases  ouanog.  Furthermore, 
both  fates  are  alike  described  as  states  or  permanent 
conditions  "  into  "  which  the  respective  classes  shall 
"  depart  "  or  "  go  away,"  —  these  shall  go  away  into 
everlasting  punishment;  but  the  righteous,  into  life 
eternal.  So  verse  41,  "  Depart  into  everlasting  fire." 
(So  also  Mark  ix.  43  :  "  It  is  better  for  thee  to  enter 
into  life  maimed,  than,  having  two  hands,  to  go  [amldiiv, 
go  away]  into  hell."     5.  An  additional  consideration, 

*  A  characteristic  specimen  of  Mr.  Hudson's  interpretation  and  argu- 
ment is  found  in  the  following:  "  In  Acts  iv.  21,  the  verb  Kohafa  occurs 
and  the  context  favors  the  sense  of  punishment  with  a  view  to  '  restraint ' 
and  prohibition,"  i.e.  to  a  resulting  restraint;  where  he  deliberately  con- 
founds the  punishment  with  its  expected  result  —  two  things  as  distinct  as 
the  discharge  of  a  gun  and  the  subsequent  flight  of  a  frightened  bird. 


292  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

absolutely  conclusive,  is  the  explanation  which  verse  41 
furnishes.  This  everlasting  punishment  is  "  the  ever- 
lasting fire  [to  itvQ  to  auoviov]  prepared  for  the  devil 
and  his  angels."  But  that  everlasting  fire,  as  we  have 
already  seen  in  our  remarks  on  Rev.  xx.  10,  and  Luke 
viii.  28,  31,  is  the  "  abyss,"  or  bottomless  pit,  the  place 
of  "torment,"  the  "lake  of  fire"  where  "they  shall 
be  tormented  day  and  night  for  ever  and  ever."  To 
a  Universalist  or  annihilationist,  this  passage  may  offer 
no  difficulty;  but  to  most  men  it  is  final. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  advisable  to  attend  briefly  to  cer- 
tain counter  considerations  alleged  by  the  advocates  of 
annihilation. 

Some  of  them  (e.g.,  Storrs,  Blain,  Hastings)  have  en- 
deavored to  maintain  that  the  word  nolaaig  itself  means 
annihilation  ;  derived,  as  they  suggest,  from  xoluLco, 
which  has  for  a  primary  meaning  to  prune,  curtail, 
dock  :  hence  they  say  cutting  off,  or  abscission,  in  their 
peculiar  sense  of  extinction.*  These  widely  circulated 
books  are  the  foundation  of  the  faith  of  a  large  portion 
of  the  annihilationists  ;  but  unfortunately  for  them, 
the  word  has  no  such  meaning  anywhere  in  the  Greek 
language,  as  extinction,  annihilation,  or  abscission  in 
any  such  sense.  Mr.  Dobney  and  Mr.  Hudson  are  wise 
enough  to  avoid  the  gross  error.  The  latter  shrewdly 
remarks,  that,  "  in  pruning,  the  tree  is  not  cut  off, 
|  only  the  branches  ;  "  and  expressly  admits  that  there 
is  no  proof  that  the  w6rd  has  the  meaning  claimed  by 
his  associates.! 

*  Storrs's  Six  Sermons,  p.  59;    Hastings's  Pauline  Theology,  p.  59; 
Blain's  Death  not  Life,  p.  79. 
t  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  190. 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  293 

The  latter  writer,  however,  claims  that  non-existence 
is  a  state,  and  therefore  may  be  "everlasting"  (Christ 
our  Life,  p.  148).  But  this  is  only  a  play  upon  words. 
We  may  carelessly,  and  for  want  of  language  to  talk 
about  nothing,  call  non-existence  a  state  ;  but  it  is  in  fact 
neither  state,  attribute,  nor  condition.  It  is  blank 
nothingness,  —  a  no-state,  a  no-condition.  Of  what 
would  it  be  the  state  or  condition  ?  of  the  being  who  is 
non-existent  ?  But  the  state  of  a  nothing  is  what  ? 
Nothing, —  no  state  at  all.  If  non-existence  is  actually 
a  state,  then  nothing  has  become  something.  How 
can  we,  except  as  we  impose  on  ourselves,  speak  seri- 
ously of  non-existence  as  actually  an  everlasting  some- 
thing ;  as  having  any  duration  at  all,  any  measure. 
Out  on  such  nonsense  !  The  lapse  of  time  after  an  ex- 
tinction may  be  longer  or  shorter  ;  but  non-existence 
is  neither  longer  nor  shorter.  There  is  no  such  thing 
as  half  nothing  or  twice  nothing,  or  any  multiple  or 
extension  of  it.  Annihilation  is  not  an  everlasting 
punishment :  *  it  is  a  transient  punishment,  having  no 
duration  beyond  the  instant  of  infliction  ;  although  it 
may  previously  weigh  upon  the  mind  with  dread.  It 
avails  nothing  to  quote  careless  admissions  from  able 
writers  to  the  effect  that  final  extinction  is  everlasting 
punishment.  The  very  confusion  in  which,  according 
to  the  quotation  given,  the  younger  Edwards  involved 
himself,  shows  his  error.  He  said,  u  Endless  annihila- 
tion is  an  endless  or  infinite  punishment,"  and  *'-  on 

*  It  is  apparently  at  the  expense  of  consistency  with  himself  that  Mr. 
Hudson  (Christ  our  Life,  pp.  127,  148,  etc.)  maintains  that  "  utter  extinc- 
tion "  is  "  eternal  punishment,  an  eternal  state."'  For,  in  all  his  special  in- 
terpretations of  the  Scripture  word  "  eternal,"  the  eternity  is  not  one  of  du- 
ration, but  of  effect. 


294  LIFE   AXD   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

this  basis,  says  Mr.  Hudson,  be  builds  an  argument 
for  eternal  suffering,  making  free  with  infinitudes, 
as  if  a  second  might  be  added  to  the  first."  The 
statement  is  the  sufficient  refutation  of  the  basis  it- 
self.* 

But  we  are  met  with  the  same  argument  in  another 
form  ;  viz.,  that  privation  is  punishment,  and  annihila- 
tion is  eternal  privation,  and,  therefore,  eternal  punish- 
ment. But  there  is  no  privation  except  as  there  is 
some  person  to  be  deprived,  and  no  eternal  privation 
except  as  there  is  eternally  some  being  deprived.  We 
deem  it  important  to  remark,  in  passing,  that  the  pun- 
ishment even  of  privation  is  a  positive  thing :  it  con- 
sists in  the  pain,  mental  or  bodily,  which  that  privation 
is  fitted  to  produce  and  does  produce.  It  is  punish- 
ment because  there  is  an  existing  person  who  feels  it. 
The  baffling  of  desires  and  hopes  may  be  the  keenest 
anguish.  The  privation  exerts  a  positive  and  continu- 
ous effect.  It  is  a  punishment  only  on  the  condition 
and  during  the  time  that  there  is  a  conscious  being  to 
feel  or  to  dread  it.  The  souls  which  are  not  yet  cre- 
ated are  undergoing  no  punishment  in  not  now  pos- 
sessing the  pleasures  of  life.  The  soul  that  has-  ceased 
to  be,  afterward  suffers  no  punishment  in  not  possess- 
ing those  pleasures.  All  the  punishment  there  is  takes 
place  while  there  is  some  one  in  existence  to  be  pun- 
ished. There  is  no  punishing  further.  To  state  the 
case  clearly  is  to  prove  it.     The  punishment  of  arini- 

*  Two  quotations  on  the  same  page  (Christ  our  Life,  p.  152)  from  Bax- 
ter, and  Gordon  Hall,  declare  annihilation  to  be  a  severer  penalty  than  end- 
less suffering;  contrary  to  the  fact,  and  contrary  to  Mr.  Hudson's  whole  ar- 
gument. 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  295 

hilation  considered  as  a  privation  is  therefore  transient : 
it  continues  so  long  as  there  is  a  person  to  feel  or  to 
shrink  from  that  privation  and  no  longer.  To  call 
the  punishment  of  annihilation  eternal  is  to  impose  on 
one's  self  with  words.  Annihilation  is  the  end  of  pun- 
ishment. 

But  it  is  thought  by  annihilationists  to  help  their 
argument  by  insisting  strongly  that  death  is  punish- 
ment. True,  death  is  suffering-,  both  in  the  process 
usually,  and  always  in  the  anticipation.  And  the  ter- 
rors felt  by  anticipation  are  not  alone  or  chiefly  the 
pains  of  the  dying  hour  ;  but,  as  Shakspeare  says,  it  is 
"  the  dread  of  something  after  death  "  which  "  makes 
us  rather  bear  those  ills  we  have,  than  fly  to  others 
that  we  know  not  of."  Death  is  thus  the  most  terrific 
of  punishments  ;  in  this  life,  and  all  through  life,  it 
presses  with  great  power  upon  the  soul.  And  beyond 
this  life  it  introduces,  as  we  believe  the  Scripture 
teaches,  to  still  sorer  suffering,  and  becomes  an  "  ever- 
lasting punishment ;  "  otherwise  it  would  be  strictly  a 
transient  punishment.  So  annihilation,  we  grant, 
might  be  reckoned  a  punishment  so  far  and  so  long  as 
it  causes  pain  and  dread  in  the  person  who  anticipates 
and  should  experience  it ;  and  no  longer.  But  since 
there  is  strictly  no  such  thing  as  eternal  annihilation, 
that  is,  a  non-existence  that  has  an  actual  and  eternal 
existence  ;  since  the  annihilated  being  experiences  no 
suffering  beyond  the  moment  of  extinction,  there  is  noth- 
ing in  any  of' these  suggestions  to  break  the  force  of 
the  Saviour's  words,  or  to  diminish  the  proof  that  the 
punishment  here  spoken  of  was  a  state  of  positive  suf- 
fering. 


296  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

Other  passages,  equally  significant,  should  not  be 
forgotten.  Such  are  Matt.  xxvi.  24,  Mark  xiv.  21: 
"  Woe  unto  that  man  by  whom  the  Son  of  man  is  be- 
trayed !  it  had  been  good  for  that  man  if  he  had  not 
been  born."  So  terrible  is  the  doom  awaiting  him,  that 
he  had  better  never  have  been  born  than  encounter  it. 
But  annihilation  would  simply  restore  things  as  they 
were  before  he  was  born.  "  Be  not  afraid  of  them  that 
kill  the  body,  and  after  that  have  no  more  that  they 
can  do.  But  I  will  forewarn  you  whom  ye  shall  fear : 
Fear  him  which  after  he  hath  killed  hath  power  to  cast 
into  hell  "  (Luke  xii.  4,  5).  Physical  death,  then,  is 
not  worthy  of  consideration  in  comparison  with  the 
doom  after  death.  "  Fear  not  them  which  kill  the 
body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul :  but  rather 
fear  him  which  is  able  to  destroy  [not  now  "  kill "] 
both  soul  and  body  in  hell ; "  the  ruin  of  both  soul 
and  body  in  hell  being  so  fearful  a  fate  that  physical 
death  is  not  to  be  dreaded  in  the  comparison.  The 
same  fearfulness  of  its  suffering  lies  as  the  substratum 
of  that  gradation  of  penalties  contained  in  Matt.  v.  22, 
"  Shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judgment  —  of  the  coun- 
cil —  of  hell-fire."  * 


*  In  this  passage,  all  these  grades  of  condemnation  are  clearly  to  be  un- 
derstood not  as  temporal  penalties,  but  as  transactions  under  the  kingdom 
of  Christ.  The  penalty  in  the  previous  verse  {rj  npicig,  the  judgment)  is,  of 
course,  liferally,  that  of  the  lowest  Jewish  court.  But  in  the  next  verse,  the 
Saviour  proceeds  to  say  how  different  it  shall  be  in  his  kingdom,  and  trans- 
fers the  Kp'tGix,  and  avviSpiov  to  represent  processes  of  condemnation  in  that 
kingdom.  This  is  the  clew  to  the  interpretation.  And  the  Saviour  so  puts 
it  as  to  begin  where  the  common  standard  ended,  attaching  to  the  slightest 
shade  of  sinful  anger  as  heavy  a  condemnation  as  the  Jew  did  to  murder; 
so  rising  from  severity  to  severity,  and  crowning  the  whole  with  hell-fire,  as 
out  stripping  all  that  was  was  conceivable,  and  having  no  parallel  in  human 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  297 

The  future  punishment  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures, 
clearly  consists  in  intensity  of  suffering. 

tribunals.  The  word  gehenna,  whatever  its  origin,  so  far  as  we  can  learn 
by  carefu.  examination,  had  in  the  Saviour's  time  no  other  meaning  than 
hell    See  Vppendix,  Note  H. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

NEW  TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS    CONTINUED.  —  SUFFERING 
PROTRACTED   AND    ENDLESS. 

WE  have  seen  that  the  New  Testament  asserts 
future  punishment  to  consist  in  suffering,  and 
not  in  the  cessation  of  suffering.  Whenever  it  partic- 
ularizes in  regard  to  the  doom  of  the  wicked,  it  dwells 
with  great  and  even  exclusive  emphasis  on  the  terror 
and  suffering  of  that  doom.  When,  now,  we  further- 
more find  that  punishment  described  as  not  only  pro- 
tracted, but  endless  and  eternal,  proceeding  simulta- 
neously with  the  blessedness  of  the  righteous  and 
co-eternal  with  it,  nothing  would  seem  to  be  lacking  to 
the  completeness  of  the  proof.  Such  is  the  fact  of  the 
case.     The  declaration  is  made  in  various  forms. 

1.  There  are  passages  which  involve  the  perpetuity 
of  the  infliction,  although  without  the  use  of  the  word 
everlasting  and  the  like.  Thus  the  admonition  (Matt. 
v.  25)  given  in  allegoric  form  to  become  reconciled  to 
the  offended  party,  in  order,  as  Meyer  expresses  it, 
"  not  to  be  cast  into  hell  by  God  the  Judge,"  closes 
with  the  solemn  assurance,  "  Verily  I  say  unto  thee, 
thou  shalt  by  no  means  come  out  thence  till  thou  hast 
paid  the  uttermost  farthing."     In  this  is  contained,  as 

298 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  299 

the  same  commentator  well  remarks,  the  endlessness 
of  the  state  of  mmishment,  since  the  removal  of  the  sin 
of  him  who  is  in  this  qtvlaarj,  or  prison,  is  an  impossi- 
bility. 

The  same  thought  is  conveyed  at  the  close  of  the 
parable  of  the  merciless  debtor  (Matt,  xviii.  34,  85) : 
"And  his  lord  was  vroth,  and  delivered  him  to  the  tor- 
mentors till  he  should  pay  all  that  was  due  unto  him. 
So  likewise  shall  my  heavenly  Father  do  also  unto 
you,"  etc.  As  the  payment  of  such  a  debt,  whether 
the  literal  ten  thousand  talents  of  the  parable,  or  the 
sinner's  debt  to  God,  is  impossible,  the  delivering  to  the 
tormentors  *  till  he  should  pay  all,  is  an  endless  con- 
finement in  suffering.  The  comment  is  as  old  as  Chrys- 
ostom,  who  says,  "  That  is,  perpetually ;  for  he  will  never 
repay :  "  and  it  is  perfectly  obvious  to  the  plainest 
reader. 

Equally  emphatic  is  the  statement  in  Matt.  xii.  31, 
32  :  "  The  blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost  shall  not 
be  forgiven  unto  men.  .  .  .  Whosoever  sneaketh  a 
word  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  not  be  forgiven 
him,  neither  in  this  world,  neither  in  the  world  to  come.', 
The  world  to  come  requires  no  special  explanation.  In- 
terpreters understand  it  in  the  obvious  meaning :  it 
designates  the  state  of  things  after  the  coming  of  Christ 
and  the  judgment,  onward.  The  two  phrases,  "  this 
world  "  and  "  the  world  to  come,"  cover  the  whole  pres- 
ent and  future.     The  Saviour  not  only  first  denies  all 

*  On  this  word  (3aoavcoTaig,  Meyer  explains  u  the  torturers  to  torture 
him,  not  merely  to  confine  him.  So  Fritzsche  and  most  commentators. 
The  idea  *of  (3aoavi£eiv  is  essential  as  an  image  of  the  future  j3aoavoc  o* 
gehenna."    So  Alford,  Bengel,  etc. 


300  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

future  forgiveness  to  this  kind  of  sin  :  he  expands  and 
explains  his  statement.  By  that  expansion  he  assigns, 
by  any  fair  interpretation  of  his  words,  a  continued 
existence  in  the  world  to  come  as  much  as  in  this 
world,  and  declares  that  in  that  world,  as  in  this ^  the 
sinner  shall  remain  under  the  displeasure  of  God,  never 
forgiven.  De  Wette  admits,  against  his  inclination, 
that  the  phrase  6  auav  6  fitllcov  unquestionably  covers 
eternity.  He  adds  :  "  That,  however,  the  eternity  of 
hell-punishments  is  asserted  in  our  text  will  be  ad- 
mitted by  us  only  when  we  are  compelled  to  take  the 
declaration  of  Jesus  with  verbal  exactness."  Meyer 
says,  "  The  eternity  of  the  punishment  here  taught  is 
not  to  be  explained  away." 

2.  There  are  passages  which  in  set  terms  describe 
this  punishment  as  endless,  eternal,  lasting  for  ever,  or 
for  ever  and  ever.  Some  of  them  have  been  alluded 
to  already  for  another  purpose.  It  is  well,  however, 
to  see  them  together,  in  order  to  appreciate  the  bold- 
ness with  which  the  annihilationists,  like  the  Univer- 
salists,  deprive  them  of  their  established  meaning,  in 
all  cases  when  they  refer  to  punishment. 

In  Matt.  iii.  12  is  described  the  searching  work  of 
Christ:  "  Whose  fan  is  in  his  hand,  and  he  will  thorough- 
ly purge  his  floor,  and  gather  his  wheat  into  the  garner ; 
but  he  will  burn  up  the  chaff  with  unquenchable  fire." 
Here  the  perpetual  vigor  and  force  of  the  instrument 
is  unmeaning  except  as  describing  the  perpetuity  of  the 
punitive  agency  it  exerts.* 

In  the  passage  quoted  in  the  previous  chapter  (Mark 


*  See  the  fuller  examination  of  this  phrase,  "  unquenchable  fire,"  else- 
where. 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  301 

ix.  43-43),  we  have  at  least  a  threefold  reiteration  of 
the  same  mode  of  expression  (after  canceling  those 
portions  of  the  passage  which  some  contend  to  be  un- 
supported) :  "  the  unquenchable  fire,"  "  their  worm 
dieth  not,"  "  their  fire  is  not  quenched."  The  reader 
will  observe  it  is  their  worm  that  is  deathless,  indicat- 
ing that  not  the  general  horror  of  the  scene,  but  the 
special  relation  of  these  horrors  to  the  occupants  of 
g-ehenna,  is  in  his  mind  when  he  describes  it  as  end- 
less. 

In  Matt.  xxv.  41,  the  same  fire  is  described  as  "  ev- 
erlasting ; "  and  in  verse  46  of  the  same  chapter,  the 
punishment  again  is  "  everlasting." 

In  Matt,  xviii.  8,  the  same  doom  which  in  the  follow- 
ing verse  is  called  "  hell-fire,"  is  designated  as  the 
"  everlasting  fire." 

The  same  phrase,  "  eternal  fire,"  with  the  same  sig- 
nification, is  found,  Jude  7:  "Even  as  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrha,  and  the  cities  about  them,  in  like  manner,  giv- 
ing themselves  over  to  fornication,  and  going  after 
strange  flesh,  are  set  forth  for  an  example,  suffering  the 
vengeance  of  eternal  fire." 

Some  of  the  annihilationists  have,  however,  adopted 
the  position  of  the  Universalists,  that  the  fire  here 
spoken  of  had  no  reference  to  future  punishment,  but 
was  simply  the  fire  that  destroyed  those  cities  on  earth. 
To  the  contrary,  are  (1),  The  usage  of  the  phrase. 
In  every  other  instance  in  the  New  Testament,  the  "  eter- 
nal fire,"  "unquenchable  fire."  the  "fire  that  burns 
for  ever  and  ever,"  unquestionably  refers  to  future  pun- 
ishment. Rampf  well  remarks  that  this  designation  is 
3haracteri6tic.     (2),  The  connection.     The  last  state- 


302  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

ment  previous  (verse  6)  is  concerning  the  sinning  an- 
gels reserved  in  everlasting  chains  under  darkness ;  and 
that  statement  is  connected  with  this  as  a  similar  trans- 
action, "  even  as,"  etc.  The  subsequent  verses  also 
(verse  14)  bring  to  view  the  future  punishment  of 
transgressors,  "  wandering  stars  to  whom  is  reserved 
the  blackness  of  darkness  for  ever."  The  representa- 
tion of  final  punishment  alone  meets  the  writer's  scope. 
(3),  The  most  scholarly  interpreters,  even  though  dif- 
fering in  details,  are  agreed  on  this  feature,  that  a  fire 
outlasting  the  sudden  destruction  of  those  cities,  an 
eternal  fire,  is  meant.  They  understand  that  there  is 
an  allusion  to  the  natural  phenomena  around  the  Dead 
Sea  as  still  bearing  witness  to  ("  setting  forth  ")  the 
continued  vengeance  of  God  on  those  cities,  whose 
very  mode  of  temporal  overthrow  —  "fire  and  brim- 
stone"—  became  one  of  the  images  or  types  under 
which  the  eternal  punishment  of  those  wicked  people 
is  represented  in  God's  Word.  There  is  a  slight  differ- 
ence in  the  connection  to  which  they  refer  the  words 
"  eternal  fire."  Some  (as  De  Wette,  Alford,  Bruckner) 
connect  as  in  our  translation.  Do  Wette,  who  takes  the 
lowest  view,  understands  a  reference  to  the  belief  ex- 
pressed, for  instance,  by  Philo  Judaeus  (ii.  21,  112), 
that  the  fire  in  which  those  cities  were  overthrown  still 
continues  to  burn  under  the  earth,  eternally,  and  that 
they  still  suffer  a  "  punishment  of  eternal  fire."  Bruck- 
ner maintains  a  double  sense  in  7tvoog  cucovlov,  includ- 
ing in  one  expression  "  the  duration  and  type,  or  fig- 
ure of  the  punishment."  Others  (as  Bengei,  Huther, 
Rampf)  connect  thus:  "are  set  forth  suffering  ven- 
geance, an  example  [rather  type  or  typical  example] 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  303 

of  eternal  fire."  The  Greek  admits  this  reading  per- 
haps more  easily  than  the  other.  The  translation  suf- 
ficiently indicates  the  view  of  its  advocates,  which  is 
very  ably  maintained  by  Rampf,  one  of  the  latest  and 
most  exhaustive  commentators  on  this  epistle.*  But, 
whatever  the  mode  of  minor  interpretation,  these  emi- 
nent expositors  are  agreed  that  the  text  refers  unques- 
tionably to  the  fire  that  is  strictly  eternal,  of  which 
that  earthly  fire  is  here  regarded  as  a  symbol. 

To  Bloomfield's  similar  exposition,  that  this  doom 
was  a  faint  type  of  the  punishment  inflicted  by  God  in 
the  next  world,  Mr.  Hudson  rejoins  :  "  Very  true  :  a 
fire  that  utterly  consumes  is  a  ■  faint  type  '  of  a  de- 
struction ever  going  on  and  ever  incomplete. "  f 

The  sneer  is  pointless.  That  fire  utterly  consumed 
(annihilated,  he  means)  nothing.  The  sinners  them- 
selves were  but  hurried  to  another  severer  doom  ;  while 
the  annihilationist  can  not  have  the  poor  satisfaction  oT 
saying,  that  even  the  material  scenes  in  which  they 
lived,  though  ruined  and  transformed,  ceased  abso- 
lutely to  exist.  The  appropriateness  of  the  type  con- 
sists in  the  irresistible,  terrific,  and  agonizing  nature 

*  "  In  representing  the  punishment  itself  and  its  significance,  Jude  admi- 
rably chose  TzpoKeivrai  instead  of  simple  elai.  In  the  Dead  Sea  lies,  '  is  set 
forth,'  the  punishment  of  those  cities  before  our  eyes.  At  a  sight  of  that 
Salt  Sea,  the  fearful  picture  of  the  punishment  which  those  cities  under- 
went rises  anew,  living,  as  it  were,  before  the  human  spirit.  He  views  it 
as  present.  Suffering  now,  as  they  did,  so  terrible  a  punishment  in  fire- 
rain,  diKTjv  vnixovGac,  they  are  dsiy/ia  izvpbc  aiuviov.  This  picture  of  the 
impure  cities  overwhelmed  with  fire  is  a  living  typical  reference  (Hinweis, 
index)  to  that  other  mysterious  fire,  which  by  the  designation  aluvlov  (Matt, 
xviii.  8,  xxv.  41)  or  uafieorov  (Mark  ix.  43),  is  thoroughly  characterized  as 
that  of  hell." — Rampf  s  Brief  Judas  in  loco. 

t  Christ  o  ir  Life,  p.  110. 


304  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

of  the  punishment,  and  its  supernatural  character  as  a 
direct  and  visible  chastisement  "  from  the  Lord  oi.t  of 
heaven  ; "  and  in  the  permanence  of  its  marks.  (4),  The 
symbolic  use  of  that  scene  to  represent  the  punishment 
of  the  lost  is  clearly  sustained  by  various  passages  in 
Revelation  ;  the  lake  of  fire  (xx.  14)  ;  the  lake  of  fire 
burning  with  brimstone  (xxi.  8) ;  fire  came  down  from 
God  out  of  heaven;  the  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone,  where 
they  shall  be  tormented  for  ever  and  ever  (xx.  9, 10)  ; 
perhaps  also  xiv.  10,  11,  and  xix.  3.  The  connection 
of  the  phraseology  in  these  passages  with  the  overthrow 
of  Sodom  and  Gomorrha  is  not  only  admitted  but 
maintained  by  Mr.  Hudson.* 

The  passage,  then,  refers  distinctly  to  the  future 
punishment  of  sinners,  which  is  here  termed  eternal. 

In  2  Thess.  i.  9,  the  punishment  inflicted  by  the  Lord 
Jesus,  in  flaming  fire  taking  vengeance,  is  called  an 
"  everlasting  destruction." 

In  Jude  6,  certain  fallen  angels  are  declared  to  be 
reserved  in  everlasting  chains  unto  the  judgment  of  the 
great  day.  The  word  "  everlasting  "  here  employed 
(fdbiog')  is  used  but  once  besides  in  the  New  Testament 
(Rom.  i.  20),  and  is  there  applied  to  the  power  of 
God, — "  the  eternal  power  and  Godhead."  As  wicked 
men  are  to  share  the  doom  of  Satan  and  his  angels, 
this  designation  equally  applies  to  their  term  of  pun- 
ishment,—  as  lasting  as  the  attributes  of  God. 

Mark  iii.  29  expresses  the  fact  in  a  twofold  form, 
with  reiteration  :  "  But  he  that  shall  blaspheme  against 
the  Holy  Ghost  hath  never  forgiveness  [literally  hath 
not  forgiveness  to  eternity  dg  rbv  auava],  but  is  in  danger 

*  Debt  and  Grace,  pp.  212,  243. 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  305 

of  [subject  to]  eternal  condemnation  ; "  i.e.,  the  con- 
demnation of  God  will  rest  upon  him  eternally;  he  will 
he  for  ever  in  the  state  of  condemnation,  in  which  in- 
deed, the  wicked  already  are  (see  John  iii.  18).  Such 
is  the  meaning  according  to  the  received  text.  But 
modern  critics  adopt  a  different  reading  of  the  Greek. 
Instead  of  condemnation  (xQiaemg)  they  read  sm(«^aor//^a- 
to**)  ;  "  shall  be  subject  to  eternal  sin,"  and  its  attend- 
ant guilt.  The  passage  so  amended  contains  the  re- 
markable statement,  that  the  wicked  shall  remain  for 
ever  sinful  and  for  ever  unforgiven.  The  manuscript 
authority  on  which  this  reading  rests  is  such  that 
Griesbach  favored  it,  Lachmann  and  Tischendorf  adopt 
it  in  their  critical  editions,  and  Alford  and  Meyer  un- 
hesitatingly accept  it.* 

Heb.  vi.  1,  2  :  "  Not  laying  again  the  foundation  of 
repentance  from  dead  works,  and  of  faith  toward  God, 
of  the  doctrine  of  baptisms  and  of  laying  on  of  hands, 
and  of  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  of  eternal  judgment" 
[xQiiiazog  alcovwv,  eternal  retribution].  The  last  phrase 
has,  by  some  commentators,  been  held  to  be  the  xgifia  of 
the  wicked  only  ;  but  the  majority  of  good  commenta- 
tors are  now  agreed  to  take  it  as  referring  to  the  just 


*  The  authorities  for  it  are  manuscripts  B,  L,  A,  Cod.  Sin.  28,  33, 
&  pe;  for  ufiapriac  (sinj  C,   D,  13,  69,  346,  Athanasius,  Pseudo-Atha- 
nasius;    the  Latin  versions   (delicti,  sin,   except  f.)   Vulgate,   Coptic, 
Gothic,   Armenian,    Saxon  versions,   Cyprian    and   Augustine.      For 
Kpiaeuc,  A,  C2,  E,  F,  G,  H,  Kj  M,  S,  U,  V,  r,  the  cursives  generally, 
both  Syriae  versions  and  others;  while  three  cursive  manuseri]   s     .    '• 
koag.j£'jc,  vviih  the  Arabic  versions.     Thus  it  appears,  that,  of  tin 
oldest  manuscripts,  four,  comprising'  the  very  oldest  and  '•■'  a    ol 
" sin "  (ufiapr/jfiarog  or  ufiaprtug),  supported  by  nearly  all  the  oklu  ver- 
sions.   Tregelles  coincides  with  Lachmann  and  Tiseheudori. 
20 


306  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

and  unjust  alike,  guided  rather  by  the  scope  than  by 
the  more  common  application  of  xQifia.  Either  interpre- 
tation bears  on  our  argument,  the  latter  even  more  de- 
cidedly than  the  former  ;  for  in  one  case  the  reward 
of  the  wicked  is  called  eternal,  in  the  other  it  is  spoken 
of  as  co-eternal  with  that  of  the  righteous.* 

In  Jude  18,  certain  evil-doers  are  spoken  of  as  "  wan- 
dering stars,  to  whom  is  reserved  the  blackness  of  dark- 
ness for  ever  "  dg  tov  aiava.  The  reader  will  remember 
"the  outer  darkness"  (Matt.  viii.  12,  etc.),  where  is 
weeping,  and  gnashing  of  teeth. 

The  same  expression  is  found  in  2  Pet.  ii.  17,  though 
with  a  change  of  the  preceding  figure  :  M  These  are  wells 
without  water,  clouds  that  are  carried  about  with  a 
tempest,  to  whom  the  mist  of  darkness  is  reserved  for 
ever,"  slg  tov  almva. 

In  Rev.  xiv.  11,  the  duration  is  expressed  by  the 
accumulated  expression  for  ever  and  ever  :  The  smoke 
of  their  torment  ascendeth  up  for  ever  and  ever,  elg 
almvag  aicovcov.  * 

The  last-mentioned  expression  occurs  also  in  Rev. 
xix.  3  :  "  And  her  smoke  rose  up  [rises  up,  dvapawei] 
for  ever  and  ever,  elg  tovg  aiavag  tav  alwtov.  It  is 
objected,  however,  that  this,   being    uttered   concern- 

*  The  words  npioig  and  Kpifia  by  derivation  would  primarily  denote,  one 
the  judicial  process,  the  other  the  judicial  sentence.  They  should  apply 
indifferently  to  a  favorable  or  an  unfavorable  case.  But,  as  the  judging  of  a 
sinful  race  is  chiefly  a  condemning,  the  words  are  more  commonly  used  in 
the  adverse  sense.  In  the  New  Testament  also,  not  only  is  the  distinctive 
use  of  the  two  terms  frequently  overlooked,  but  each  of  them  often  includes, 
together  with  the  judicial  process  or  sentence,  the  award  itself.  See  in- 
stances in  Robinson's  New  Testament  Lexicon,  under  the  words.  Such  is 
undoubtedly  the  case  here.  It  is  here  almost  precisely  like  our  word  "  ret- 
ribution." 


NEW    TESTAMENT    TEACHINGS.  307 

ing  Babylon,  is  merely  a  statement  of  its  entire  final 
demolition  ;  and  hence  the  eternity  is  merely  an  eter- 
nity of  effect,  —  finality.  But  the  reader  will  re- 
member it  is  not  a  literal  city,  but  spiritual  Babylon 
(perhaps  Pagan  and  chiefly  Papal  Rome),  which  is 
here  described  under  this  figure,  and  in  the  previous 
chapter,  as  a  woman ;  the  two  representations  being 
identified  in  xvii.  18.  "If  the  woman,"  says  Alford, 
[and  we  add,  if  the  city],  "  represents  merely  the  stone- 
walls and  houses  of  the  city,  what  need  is  there  of 
'  mystery  '  on  her  brow  ?  what  appropriateness  in  the 
use  of  all  the  Scripture  imagery,  long  familiar  to  God's 
people,  of  spiritual  fornication  ?  "  The  city,  in  its  es- 
sential meaning,  can  not  be  even  an  abstraction,  but 
the  actual  persons  on  whom  God  charged  (xviii.  24) 
the  "  blood  of  prophets  and  of  saints."  This  mingling 
of  the  underlying  meaning  with  the  figure  of  the  rep- 
resentation appears  not  only  in  the  circumstances  al- 
luded to,  but  also  in  the  very  description  of  the  over- 
throw (verses  9, 10) ;  where  her  "  burning  "  is,  in  the 
same  breath,  identified  with  her  "  torment,"  thus : 
"  Shall  see  the  smoke  of  her  burning,  standing  afar  off 
for  fear  of  her  torment  "  (L3aaaviaiiov) .  The  smoke  was 
therefore  the  same  which  is  elsewhere  called  "  the  smoke 
of  torment,"  the  mark  of  suffering ;  and  it  rises  up 
for  ever  and  ever.  Observe  that  the  phrase  "  of  her 
burning  "  is  omitted  in  this  closing  statement,  as  though 
purposely  to  drop  all  connection  with  a  literal  confla- 
gration, and  to  make  the  expression  broad  enough  to 
be,  in  the  words  of  Alford,  a  designation  "  of  hell  in 
general."  * 

*  As  this  is  not  a  material  but  a  spiritual  city,  and  the  overthrow  must 


308  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

In  Rev.  xx.  10.  the  punishment  of  the  devil,  the 
beast,  and  the  false  prophet,  is  described  as  eternal  suf- 
fering :  "  They  shall  be  tormented  day  and  night  for 
ever  and  ever,"  u$  tovg  aimvag  tgoV  alcovow. 


of  course,  be  in  keeping,  the  whole  representation,  though  borrowed  from 
material  transactions  of  the  Old  Testament,  is  raised  into  an  entirely  differ- 
ent plane,  like  the  paradise,  Zion,  temple,  sacrifice,  etc.,  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment.    Appeals,  therefore,  to  such  descriptions  as  Isa.  xxxiv.  9,  10,  do  not 
settle  the  meaning  of  this.     No  doubt  the  language  there  employed  to  de- 
scribe the  overthrow  of  Idumea  is  the  basis,  and  only  the  basis,  of  the    pi 
ent  prophecy, —  as  the  valley  of  the  sons  of  Hinnom  furnished  the  earthly 
image,  and  therefore  one  designation,  of  hell.    Many  commentators,  however, 
nave  really  missed  the  full  force  of  the  original  passage  in  Isaiah,  which 
describes,  not  merely  a  complete  and  final  overthrow,  but  one  whose  ma 
and  fearful  tokens  shall  exist  and  display  themselves  through  the  ages,  — 
therefore  a  fitting  image  of  a  ruin  whose  continuance  is  eternal ;  as  much 
so  as  the  nature  of  the  case  admits.     The  9th  and  10th  verses  read  thus: 
"And  the  streams  thereof  shall  be  turned  into  pi^ch,  and  the  dust  the 
into  brimstone,  and  the  land  thereof  shall  become  burning  pitch.     It  shall 
not  be  quenched  night  nor  day:  the  smoke  thereof  shall  go  up  for  ever; 
from  generation  to  generation  it  shall  lie  waste:  none  shall  pass  through  it 
forever."     Knobel,  in  the  last  edition  of  hjs  comment  irv  (1861 ),  thus  ex- 
plains the  phenomena  which  perhaps  the  passage  describes:  "  By  volcanic 
revolution,  the  waters  of  the  streams  are  changed   to  pitch  (asphaltum), 
and  the  plains  to  brimstone;  fire  kindles  upon  the  land,  and  makes  i 
a  burning  pool  of  pitch.     This  prophecy  readily  occurred  to  the  autho'-, 
since  in  similar  mode  had  the  neighboring  Valley  of  Siddim  once  been  over- 
whelmed ;  and  the  nature  of  Idumea  was  similar  to  that  of  the  valley.     Hot 
springs  are  found  there;  modern  travellers  have  found  sulphur-spring 
(Burckhardt's  Syria,  pp.  731,  741),  and  volcanic  cones  with  beds  of  lava 
(Ritter,  Erdkunde  xiv.  p.  1045,  xv.  p.  769);  Edrise  even  relates  that  the  soil 
consists  of  pitch  (Rosenm.  Analecta  Arab.  iii.  p.  4).     Other  Arabic  writer- 
give  accounts  of  frightful  fires  in  the  earth,  and  outbursts  of  flame  from  i  , 
which  have  been  found  in  the  State  of  Hedjaz,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Me- 
dina (Seetzen,  Correspondence,  Feb.   1813,   Burckhardt's  Arabia,  p.  5*7^. 
Verse  10  is  thus  interpreted  by  Knobel:  "  The  volcanic  fire  burns  uninter- 
rupted, and  for  ever  smoke  ascends  from  the  burning  land,  as  for  a 
time  in  the  Vale  of  Siddim  (Gen.  xix.  28).     Eden  becomes  an  uno<  run 
desert.     The  fourfold  designation  of  eternity,  during  which  the  desolation 
shall  endure,  intensifies  the  positivmess  of  the  prophecy,  and  indicate*  deep 
displeasure."     The  reader  will  take  notice  that  a  land  exists  to  sutler  this 
lasting  desolation. 


NEW    TEST.IMENT   TEACHINGS.  309 

Thus  it  will  bo  seen  that  the  endless  duration  of  that 
punishment  is  asserted  (1)  in  very  numerous  instances  ; 
(2)  by  all  the  forms  of  phraseology  by  which  eternity 
is  expressed  in  the  Greek  language  ;  (8)  by  the  same 
terms,  equally  varied  and  equally  strong,  by  which  the 
duration  of  the  existence,  attributes,  glory,  and  wor- 
ship of  God,  are  described.  One  of  the  terms,  indeed, 
(aidu>g)  is  used  but  twice  in  the  New  Testament :  in 
one  case  it  is  applied  to  the  punishment  of  the  wicked, 
in  the  other  to  the  nature  of  God. 

Now,  the  terms  which  are  translated  "  everlasting," 
"eternal,"  "forever,"  "  for  ever  and  ever,"  and  the 
other  forms  of  expression  by  which  this  thought  is  ex- 
pressed, are  just  as  direct  and  simple  in  the  Greek  as 
in  the  English  language.  They  signify  precisely  the 
same  thing,  and  are  used  in  precisely  the  sam.e  way,  in 
these  two  languages.  Much  parade  of  learning  has 
been  made  in  regard  to  these  terms.  The  unquestion- 
able fact  is,  that  they  mean  the  same  in  the  Bible  that 
they  do  in  common  life,  and  are  used  in  the  same  way  ; 
for  the  Bible  uses  the  language  and  idioms  of  common 
life.  Now,  in  common  life,  these  terms  are  occasionally 
employed,  no  doubt,  with  some  latitude  ;  and  yet  every 
one  knows  that  the  real  meaning  of  those  terms  is  end- 
less duration,  and  that  meaning  is  not  abrogated  by 
occasional  instances  of  careless  use. 

The  attempt  is  made  to  set  aside  this  testimony  in 
two  modes.  First,  certain  writers  endeavor  to  em- 
barrass the  question  in  the  same  mode  with  the  Uni- 
versalists,  by  alleging  that  these  terms  are  often  used 
for  limited  duration.  So  Blain,  pages  86  and  onward  ; 
and  Hastings,  Pauline  Theology,  pages  61.  etc.  ;  Ellis 


310  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

and  Read,  pages  264,  etc.*  Thus  the  Aaronitic  priest- 
hood is  appointed  to  be  an  everlasting  priesthood  (Ex. 
xl.  15)  ;  the  covenant  with  Abraham  was  an  everlast- 
ing covenant,  and  the  land  of  Canaan  was  an  everlasting 
inheritance  (Gen.  xvii.  7,  8,  etc.) ;  certain  servants  were 
to  serve  their  masters  for  ever  (Ex.  xxi.  6)  ;  Joshua  di- 
rected that  twelve- stones  from  the  Jordan  should  be  a 
memorial  for  ever  (Josh.  iv.  7)  ;  and  we  read  of  the 
everlasting  mountains  (Hab.  iii.  6),  and  the  everlast- 
ing doors  of  Zion  (Ps.  xxiv.  7).f 

This  whole  matter  is  easily  disposed  of  to  the  per- 
fect satisfaction  of  every  man  who  is  willing  to  be  sat- 
isfied, or  who  will,  in  this  matter,  abide  by  the  same 
principles  that  unhesitatingly  govern  him  in  all  other 
interpretations. 

1.  The  general  and  essential  meaning  and  use  of 
the  words  and  phrases  in  question  is  clear.     They  mean 


*  A  mass  of  ignorant  confusion,  found  in  the  latter  writers,  on  pp.  267, 
etc.,  where  the  idiomatic  phrase  dg  tov  ai&va  is  confounded  with  other  uses 
of  aiuv  entirely  distinct,  we  do  not  refer  to.  To  a  person  familiar  with 
the  Greek  language,  it  is  transparent  and  contemptible.  To  a  person  not 
acquainted  with  the  language,  its  folly  can  not  well  be  set  forth.  We  refer 
only  to  the  words  and  phrases  properly  translated  "  eternal." 

t  In  the  eagerness  to  find  such  passages,  some  singular  errors  are  com- 
mitted. Hastings  and  Ellis  and  Read  cite,  as  their  first  instance,  Jonah  ii. 
6,  "  The  earth  with  her  bars  was  about  me  for  ever."  This  "  for  ever," 
say  the  latter  writers,  only  embraced  a  period  of  three  days  and  three  nights. 
A  total  misapprehension.  The  passage  is  a  part  of  what  Jonah  thought  and 
$aid  of  himself  while  in  the  belly  of  the  monster,  whi^h  then  seemed  to  him 
the  sure  passage  to  death;  or,  as  he  expresses  it,  the  " belly  of  sheol."  The 
translation  of  Henderson  better  brings  out  the  sense:  "  As  for  the  earth,  her 
bars  are  shut  upon  me  for  ever."  De  Wette:  "shut  behind  me  for  ever." 
The  meaning  is,  he  felt  that  he  was  for  ever  shut  out  from  the  land  of  the 
living.  So  Henderson,  Gesenius,  Rosenmuller,  Hitzig.  This,  of  course, 
without  help  fron  God;  for  he  still  trusted  that  God  would  deliver  him 
from  his  fears,  as  intimated  in  the  close  of  the  verse. 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  311 

eternity,  —  the  same  in  English  as  in  Greek  and  He- 
brew.  The  fact  is  not  affected  by  occasional  instances 
in  either  language  where  impassioned  utterance  or  pop- 
ular phraseology  may  apply  them  without  rigid  exact- 
ness ;  where  a  speaker  may  call  that  eternal  of  which  he 
can  see  no  end,  confounding  the  indefinite  with  the  in- 
finite ;  or  where  no  termination  is  contemplated,  even 
though  as  matter  of  fact  it  may  speedily  come.  The 
meaning  of  the  terms  remains  the  same,  notwithstand- 
ing the  overstrained  and  careless  use  ;  and,  in  calm  and 
well-considered  utterances,  not  the  slightest  doubt  at- 
taches to  the  meanings.  Thus  men  speak  popularly  of 
an  eternal  disgrace,  an  everlasting  strife,  an  endless 
conflict ;  and  every  deed  of  real  estate,  though  the  so- 
ber language  of  a  law-form,  conveys  the  property  to 
the  purchaser,  "  his  heirs  and  assigns  for  ever."  The 
disgrace  may  be  forgotten,  the  strife  may  cease,  and  the 
estate,  for  want  of  heirs  or  testament,  may  soon  escheat 
to  the  state,  without  impairing  the  well-settled  and 
legitimate  meaning  of  those  words  in  the  English  lan- 
guage.    Precisely  so  in  the  Greek  and  Hebrew. 

2.  A  careful  analysis  will  show  that  many  of  the  alleg- 
ed deviations  are  more  apparent  than  real ;  that  the  Ian- 
guage  employed  has,  in  the  intent  of  him  who  employs 
it,  the  usual  signification  :  but  he  deliberately  overlooks 
certain  limitations,  or  suppresses  certain  implied  condi- 
tions, or  does  not  contemplate  cert&m  facts,  which  inter- 
fere with  that  intent.  The  Hebrew  poet,  with  the  same 
flight  of  imagination  with  which  he  endows  the  moun- 
tains with  life  and  motion,  also  prolongs  their  age  from 
an  indefinite  to  an  infinite  duration.  The  gates  of 
Zion,  as  the  house  of  the  eternal  God,  he  chooses  also 


312  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

to  invest  with  eternity  by  a  poetic  license.*  The  mon- 
ument of  stones  was,  in  Joshua's  actual  intent,  proba- 
bly, a  memorial  for  ever:  he  contemplated  no  removal 
or  destruction  of  it.  As  matter  of  fact  it  was  destroyed, 
we  know  not  when  ;  but  for  that  removal  he  made  no 
provision,  either  in  his  plan  or  in  his  language.  He  did 
not  prophesy  that  it  would  remain  for  ever,  but  di- 
rected that,  so  far  as  he  and  they  conld  effect  it,  it 
should  be  perpetual.  Precisely  so  do  we  understand 
the  modern  law  conveyance  to  him,  "  his  heirs  and  as- 
signs /or  ever:  "  it  indicates  the  intent  of  the  grantor, 
a  perpetual  grant,  never  by  him  to  be  resumed  but  for 
aught  of  his  interference,  and  so  far  as  he  can  make  it, 
to  continue  for  ever.  This  condition  is  suppressed  in 
the  utterance  ;  but,  as  soon  as  it  is  supplied,  the  language 
appears  in  its  usual  meaning,  whatever  may  be  the 
resulting  fact.  The  same  is  the  meaning  of  the  legis- 
lation, "  He  shall  be  a  servant  for  ever."  The  party 
renounces  his  right  ever  in  all  coming  time  to  claim 
his  freedom,  and,  if  his  earthly  life  were  to  last  so  long, 
remains  a  servant  for  ever.  The  condition  is  suppressed, 
and  makes  the  language  seem  to  have  a  limited  mean- 
ing ;  whereas  it  is  only  an  intensive  way  of  making  a 
command  or  a  prohibition.  It  is  a  perpetual  ordi- 
nance. Even  so  modern  and  so  precise  a  document 
as  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  in  one  in- 

*  *  Let  us  be  understood.  When  the  Psalmist  declares  that  Lebanon  and 
Hermon  skip  like  a  young  unicorn,  that  deep  calleth  unto  deep,  that  the 
sea  saw  and  fled,  etc.,  we  are  not  to  maintain  that  the  words  "  skip,"  "  call," 
"sea,"  have  lost  their  usual  meaning,  but  simply  that  the  poet,  by  a  vivid 
and  obvious  stroke  of  imagination,  chooses  to  attribute  to  those  objects  these 
living  acts.  So  with  the  everlasting  mountains.  There  were  no  such  thing 
as  poetic  imagination  if  this  principle  were  ruled  out. 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  313 

stance  of  special  emphasis,  rises  from  the  level  of  a 
simple  prohibition  to  incorporate  the  language  of  per- 
petuity :  "  No  religious  test  shall  ever  be  required  as 
a  qualification  to  any  office  or  public  trust  under  the 
United  States."  Now,  suppose  the  Constitution  were 
changed  by  a  three-fourths  vote  of  the  States,  or  even 
violated  in  practice,  would  that  affect  the  meaning  of 
the  original  language  as  it  came  from  the  pen  of  Jeffer- 
son ?  Not  at  all.  To  this  same  intensive  utterance 
of  legislation  and  legal  conveyance,  which  naturally 
sweeps  on  without  any  limitation  whatever,  we  might 
refer  the  appointment  of  an  everlasting  priesthood,  the 
everlasting  covenant,  and  the  inheritance  for  ever ;  or 
perhaps  we  are  to  view  this  class  of  arrangements  and 
appointments  as  called  everlasting,  because  they  are 
the  germ  of  what  became  perpetual  in  the  gospel  dispen- 
sation, being  in  the  New  Testament  directly  or  typically 
identified  with  its  own  perpetual  arrangements,  e.g., 
the  promise  to  Abraham.*     These  instances,  therefore, 

*  This  last  view  is  not  peculiar  to  English  theologians  and  expositors. 
Von  Gerlach  remarks  thus  on  Gen.  xvii.  7,  8:  "  God  makes  with  Abraham 
and  his  posterity  an  everlasting  covenant;  since  this  covenant  of  grace  was 
the  first  germ  of  the  new  covenant  in  Jesus  Christ.  .  .  .  The  eternal  pos- 
session stands  in  the  first  instance  in  contrast  to  the  present  temporary 
abode  of  Abraham  in  Canaan.  Yet  at  the  same  time  is  this  land,  which 
God  promised  as  an  inheritance  to  Abraham  and  his  seed,  the  visible  pledge, 
the  germ  and  prophetic  type,  of  the  new  world  which  belongs  to  the  church 
of  the  Lord:  it  is  therefore  called  emphatically  '  an  eternal  possession.'  The 
same  holds  good  ©f  all  the  divine  ordinances,  which,  in  the  Old  Testament, 
are  declared  to  be  everlasting  ordinances ;  and  yet,  in  the  New  Testament,  are 
in  the  letter  abrogated,  while  in  the  spirit  they  have  been  fulfiiled.  So  it  is 
with  circumcision,  the  passover,  the  priesthood,  etc."  Delitzsch  says  of  the 
covenant  of  circumcision,  "  The  circumcised  man  was  to  know  himself  as  a 
member  of  a  race-and-people  union,  with  whom  God  has  formed  an  ever- 
lasting covenant  on  the  basis  of  promises  which  have  the  salvation  of  man 
for  their  contents,  and  whose  offspring  form  a  genealogical  chain  extending 


314  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

when  carefully  considered,  prove  mostly,  if  not  wholly, 
to  be  no  exceptions  in  the  intent  of  the  speaker  and 
the  meaning  of  the  language  :  the  expressions  are  ac- 
tually, and  we  may  say  deliberately,  broader  than  the 
literal  fact ;  (1)  by  a  poetic  embellishment,  capable  of 
no  misunderstanding ;  (2)  by  the  onward  sweep  of  legis- 
lation, purposely  intensifying  into  an  everlasting  bond  ; 
(3)  by  the  designed  and  foretold  absorption  of  a  tem- 
porary, symbolic,  or  representative  arrangement  into  an 
eternal  economy,  —  as  the  Abrahamic  covenant,  the 
Aaronitic  priesthood,  the  kingdom  of  David. 

3.  The  alleged  exceptional  instances  are  all  of  them 
from  the  Old  Testament,  with  its  more  highly  poetic 
style  and  symbolic  utterances.  Not  an  instance  is 
alleged  from  the  New  Testament.  With  these  it  is 
attempted  to  overthrow  the  deliberate  and  repeated 
declarations  of  Christ. 

4.  The  alleged  exceptions  are  adduced,  not  to  show 
occasional  exceptions  in  the  absolute  range  of  the 
words,  but  to  destroy  that  meaning  in  one  entire  class 
of  cases  singled  out  for  the  purpose  ;  and  in  that  alone, 
—  a  proceeding,  as  matter  of  criticism  and  argument, 
quite  intolerable. 

5.  The  class  of  cases  which  it  is  thus  proposed  to 
isolate  and  exterminate  is  (1)  numerous  and  varied 
in  phraseology ;  (2)  it  comprises  all  the  ordinary  forms 

forth  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  salvation  of  the  world."  In  the  same  strain,  Heng- 
stenberg  writes  ("  The  Jews  and  the  Christian  Church"):  "  According  to 
the  constant  teachings  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  there  is  but  one 
church  of  God,  one  Israel,  one  house  under  two  administrations  from  the 
days  of  Abraham  till  the  end  of  the  world."  Commentators  are  somewhat 
agreed  that  the  everlasting  kingdom  of  David  became  everlasting  only  ia 
the  reign  of  the  Great  Anointed  of  whom  he  was  the  type  and  precursor. 


NEW    TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  315 

of  designating  eternity  known  to  the  New  Testament, 
or  to  the  Greek  language  ;  (3)  it  embraces  all  the 
terms  which  designate  the  eternity  of  God,  of  his  attri- 
butes and  glory, — one  term  (aidiog)  which  is  used  in  the 
New  Testament  elsewhere  of  God  only ;  (4)  it  includes 
the  same  terms  which  —  as  will  presently  appear  —  des- 
ignate the  eternity  of  future  happiness  ;  (5)  it  in  some 
cases,  in  the  same  text,  applies  the  term  alike  to  both 
retributions,  so  that  objectors  are  driven  to  the  mon- 
strous inconsistency  of  arbitrarily  assigning  two  infi- 
nitely different  meanings  to  the  same  word  in  the  same 
sentence,  uttered  in  precisely  the  same  way  on  the 
same  general  subject ;  and  (6)  it  is  supported,  besides, 
by  other  modes  of  speech  into  which  these  terms  do 
not  enter. 

Accordingly,  the  more  intelligent  advocates  of  anni- 
hilation deliberately  abandon  this  defense  as  untena- 
ble, although  previously  calling  attention  to  it  for  the 
sake  of  such  effect  as  it  may  produce  on  some  minds. 
Thus  Mr.  Dobney,  after  devoting  three  pages  to  show 
that  these  terms  are  often  used  in  a  limited  sense,  closes 
by  declaring,  "It  is  by  no  means  or  in  any  degree  on 
the  foregoing  remarks  that  I  would  rest  the  answer  to 
the  argument  derived  from  our  present  text  (Matt.  xxv. 
48).  I  consent,  with  all  my  heart,  to  waive  them  here  : 
I  do  waive  them  altogether,  and  rest  the  case  entirely, 
so  far  as  this  text  is  concerned,  on  my  next  reply,  to 
which  I  rather  invite  attention.  Let  it  be  cheerfully 
granted,  then,  that  the  word  everlasting  must,  in  each 
part  of  this  text,  be  understood  in  its  largest,  widest 
sense,  as  denoting  absolute  eternity."  * 

*  Future  Punishment,  p.  312. 


316  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

Mr.  Hudson,  though  repeatedly  and  somewhat  prom« 
inently  protruding  this  argument  of  a  limited  meaning 
of  the  terms  (Christ  our  Life,  pp.  120,  123,  132; 
Debt  and  Grace,  pp.  210,  188),  yet  expressly  dis- 
claims his  reliance  upon  it  as  his  fundamental  position, 
and  even  complains  of  one  reviewer  for  failing  to  rec- 
ognize the  fact.* 

Well  they  may  do  so.  For  however  desirous  to 
gain,  as  usual,  the  benefit  of  such  suggestions  in  minds 
where  they  would  have  weight,  they  are  too  well  aware 
of  the  impossibility  of  maintaining  the  position,  and 
especially  of  its  entire  incompatibility  with  the  objec- 
tion on  which  they  choose  to  stake  the  issue.  A  man 
can  not  well  say  much  of  the  limited  meaning  of 
"  eternal,"  etc.,  when  his  main  position  is,  that  it  does 
mean  eternity  of  effect.  Still  these  writers  certainly 
take  all  possible  advantage  of  both  the  two  opposite 
defenses,  while  they  professedly  abandon  the  former. 

The  second  evasion,  and  the  one  on  which  annihila- 
tionism  chooses  to  stake  its  attempt  to  turn  these  Scrip- 
ture declarations,  is  this  :  the  words  do  signify  eternity 
absolute,  finality,  irreversibleness,  or,  as  they  choose  to 
term  it,  eternity,  not  of  process,  but  of  effect.  Punish- 
ment, they  say,  may  consist  in  suffering  or  it  may 
consist  in  extinction.  Extinction  may  be  called  eternal 
punishment,  because  it  is  a  punishment  of  which  the 
effect  continues  for  ever  ;  that  is,  it  is  a  final  or  irrever- 
sible extinction.  In  this  mode  they  would  dispose  of 
the  most  troublesome  passages,  such  as  Matt,  xviii.  8 ; 
xxv.  41,  46  ;  2  Thess.  i.  9  ;  Jude  13  ;  2  Pet.  ii.  17,  etc. 

*  Reviewers  Reviewed,  p.  12,  and  passages  there  cited  from  Christ  our 
Life,  pp.  4, 122,  and  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  160. 


NEW   TESTAMENT  TEACHINGS.  317 

The  question  at  issue,  then,  is  this  :  Do  the  words 
"  eternal "  and  the  like,  when  applied  to  the  punish- 
ment of  the  wicked,  entirely  lose  their  fundamental 
meaning  of  duration  (infinite,  or  at  least  indefinite), 
and  convey  only  the  notion  of  finality  ?  This  is,  in  sub- 
stance, the  proposition  of  annihilationists.*  It  is  the 
only  real  question.  For  the  phrase  "eternity  of  effect," 
as  we  shall  presently  see,  is  merely  a  disguising  of  the 
question,  and  actually  disappears  from  the  interpreta- 
tion. Annihilation  has,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  no 
duration  beyond  the  moment  when  it  takes  place  ; 
neither  has  it  any  effect  of  which  duration  can  be  pred- 
icated ;  for  its  effect  is  non-existence,  nothing.  It  is 
simply  final ;  and  such  is  the  prevailing  phrase  by 
which,  in  Mr.  Hudson's  argument,  it  is  expressed.  Now, 
have  these  words,  expressive  of  eternal  duration,  so 
completely  changed  as  to  lose  the  very  notion  of  du- 
ration ? 

(1.)  The  attempt  to  break  down,  in  reference  to  one 
entire  subject,  and  that  only,the  well-settled  and  funda- 
mental meaning  of  a  class  of  words,  by  citing  a  few 
alleged  exceptions  out  of  several  hundred  instances  in 
which  the  phrases  occur,  is  at  once  a  strange  proce- 
dure. It  would  be  natural,  and  in  accordance  both 
with  common  and  Scriptural  use,  that  a  set  of  words 
employed  in  the  New  Testament  more  than  a  hundred 
times,  and  in  the  Old  Testament  about  four  hundred, 
should  be  occasionally  used  with  some  latitude.!   Still, 

*  "  These  are  examples  in  which  the  word  '  eternal  '  denotes  fiialily, 
rather  than  the  endless  continuance  of  the  subject  to  which  it  is  applied." 
Christ  our  Life,  p.  118. 

t  In  th©  New  Testament,  the  adjective  aluvcoc  occurs  sixty-six  times, 


318  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

if  there  is  one  idea  that  is  fundamental  in  this  whole 
class  of  cases,  it  is  that  of  protracted  duration,  infinite, 
or  at  least  indefinite.*  Now  this  phraseology  is  that 
which  is  used  to  describe  the  duration  of  God's  exist- 
ence, glory,  attributes,  word,  and  worship;  of  Christ,  his 
kingdom,  his  priesthood,  his  praise ;  it  is  applied  to  the 
future  condition  of  the  saints,  and  to  the  future  condi- 
tion of  the  wicked.  Out  of  all  these  classes  of  topics, 
the  last  is  singled  out  for  an  earnest  endeavor  to  set 
aside  the  fundamental  meaning  of  the  terms :  a  few 
alleged  exceptions  are  cited,  and  their  whole  force  con- 
centrated upon  this  one  topic. 

(2.)  The  looseness  of  the  criticism  is  equally  no- 
ticeable. The  words  almnog,  etc.,  in  these  critics'  hands, 
seem  capable  of  any  meaning  at  pleasure ;  and  the  last 
remnants  of  the  original  meaning,  and  indeed  of  any 
settled  meaning,  disappear  under  their  manipulations. 
Thus  they  commence  with  attempts  to  prove  the  mean- 
ing, "  eternity  of  effect ;  "  in  other  words,  "  eternal," 
when  applied  to  any  process,  does  not  describe  the  du- 
ration of  that  process  to  which  the  term  is  applied,  but 
of  something  else,  viz.,  its  effect.  But,  as  the  process 
of  annihilation  actually  leaves  no  existing  result  or 
effect,  it  becomes  too  palpably  absurd  to  describe  the  re- 


and  the  phrase  ela  rbv  al&va,  or  its  equivalent,  some  fifty-eight.  In  the  Sep- 
tuagint,  aiuvLog  is  found  ninety-two  times ;  and  the  noun  cm'wv,  in  some  of  its 
forms,  three  hundred  and  eight  times. 

*  So  essential  is  this  meaning,  that  the  notion  of  duration,  of  the  onflow 
of  time,  seems  inseparable  from  the  root-word  aluv,  and  appears  prominent 
in  all  instances  of  its  use  in  the  New  Testament  besides  the  particular 
phrases  above  referred  to.  Thus  says  Ellicott  (Eph.  i.  21):  "  With  regard  to 
the  meaning  of  aiuv,  it  may  be  observed,  that,  in  all  passages  where  it  oc« 
curs,  a  temporal  notion  is  more  or  less  apparent." 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  319 

suiting  nothing  as  eternal.  Thus  it  became  necessary 
to  substitute  the  word  "  final  "  for  eternal.  Again,  it 
is  "  irreversible  ;  "  an  irreversible  judgment  (Heb.  vi. 
2).  And,  again,  it  is  "  critical  or  decisive.''  An  "eter- 
nal victory  "  (a  phrase  cited  from  Wetstein)  "  plainly 
means  a  decisive  victory,"  says  Mr.  Hudson.  Now  the 
word  is  further  metamorphosed  into  "  mortal,  fatal. " 
For,  in  the  next  sentence,  the  same  writer  proceeds : 
"  In  Mark  iii.  29,  the  guilt  is  aptly  called  alconov,  because 
decisive  of  one's  destiny,  mortal,  fatal."  Two  pages 
later  we  are  informed  that  the  phrase  "  eternal  chains  " 
(dsapotg  di'Sioig,  Jude  6)  is  equivalent  to  the  phrase 
dhfxoi  aonyxroi,  "  chains  that  can  not  be  broken."  *  Is 
this  criticism  and  interpretation  ?  Or  is  it  inexcusably 
loose  and  random  babbling  ?  What  can  not  be  proved 
by  such  a  style  of  argument,  abandoning,  as  it  does, 
every  vestige  of  the  legitimate  meaning  of  words,  until 
"  eternal "  becomes  successively  "  final,"  "  irreversible," 
"  decisive,"  "  mortal,"  "  fatal;"  and  equivalent  to 
the  phrase  "  that  can  not  be  broken."  f 

(3.)  The  alleged  meaning  entirely  lacks  support  from 
New  Testament  usage.  No  instance  can  be  adduced 
from  the  New  Testament  Greek  in  which  these  terms 
have  lost  their  proper  idea  of  protracted  duration,  and 
acquired  that  of  mere  "  finality,"  or  even  "  eternity  of 
effect."  Every  instance  can  be  most  legitimately  ex- 
plained in  accordance  with  the  common  meaning 'of 
the  terms. 

*  The  above  quotation  may  be  found  on  pp.  116, 118, 120.  of  Christ  our 
Life. 

t  These  processes  are  the  necessary  result  of  the  exigency.  It  would 
not  answer  to  render  Mark  iii.  29  final  sin,  nor  Jude  §  final  chains ;  for  even 
that  rendering  would  involve  eternity.  So  final  must  give  place  to  "  mor- 
tal "  and  u^tjktoc. 


320  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

The  cases  cited  or  alluded  to  by  Mr.  Hudson  as  proof 
passages,  are  Heb.  v.  9,  vi.  2,  ix.  12,  xiii.  20 ;  Philem. 
15  ;  Rev.  xvi.  6. 

Following  these  texts  in  order,  we  read  (Heb.  v.  9), 
"  And  being  made  perfect,  he  became  the  author  of 
eternal  salvation  unto  all  that  obey  him.',  It  is  claimed 
that  eternal  must  here  lose  its  ordinary  meaning  "  if 
the  word  '  salvation  '  be  taken  in  its  strict  sense  of  de- 
liverance," i.e.,  a  transient  act  of  deliverance.  But  this 
is  not  the  necessary  nor  ordinary  use  of  the  word, 
which  is  a  very  broad  word,  and  designates,  in  the 
widest  sense,  the  whole  remedial  work  of  Christ,  from 
its  inception  (Luke  xix.  10)  to  its  fullest  consummation 
ill  glory  (1  Pet.  i.  9),  as  may  be  seen  by  glancing  over 
an  English  Concordance.  The  word  "  eternal "  applies 
to  it  in  its  simple,ordinary  sense.  So  De  Wette  :  "  eter- 
nal salvation  ;  by  all  means  is  it  so,  continuing  on  in 
eternity,  see  Heb.  vii.  25."  Bengel :  "  it  flows  on  for 
ever." 

The  phrase  "  eternal  judgment "  (itgi^iarog  alaviov, 
Heb.  vi.  2)  is  claimed  as  a  proof  text ;  and  Tholuck, 
with  two  or  three  others,  is  quoted  as  explaining  it  to 
be  that  "  of  which  the  consequences  continue  for  ever." 
If  this  idea  lay  in  the  word  u  eternal,"  in  this  instance, 
it  certainly  would  not  go  far  to  sustain  its  application 
where  there  are  no  consequences  to  continue,  as  in  case 
of  annihilation.  But  it  is  sheer  confusion  to  force  into 
the  word  eternal  a  meaning  which  is  lodged  only  in  the 
other  word  (x^«),  judgment,  retribution.  This  word 
"judgment "  (xqijio)  is  quite  often  used  in  the  New 
Testament  so  as  to  include  with  the  sentence  the  pun- 
ishment which  it  involves.     It  can  not  be  otherwise  un- 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  821 

derstood  in  Mark  xii.  40  :  "  These  shall  receive  greater 
damnation  "  (x^ct),  that  is,  clearly,  condemnation  to 
a  severer  punishment.  This  signification  of  the  word 
is  not  only  manifest  in  itself,  —  it  is  assigned  to  the 
word  in  Robinson's  New  Testament  Lexicon,  as  a  fre- 
quent meaning,  of  which,  among  others,  the  following 
are  manifest  instances :  Luke  xx.  47,  xxiii.  40,  xxiv. 
20  ;  Jas.  iii.  1  ;  Rev.  xvii.  1,  xviii.  20.*  Thus  in  Mark 
xii.  40,  Alexander  properly  translates  xQipa  "  righteous 
retribution,"  which,  "in  this  case,  of  course  means  con- 
demnation, judgment,  or  execution."  Alford  trans- 
lates the  same  word,  in  Rom.  xiii.  2,  "  punishment." 
Olshausen  and  Riickert  (on  Gal.  v.  10)  both  defend 
this  meaning  as  a  frequent  one.  Bloomfield  ren- 
ders it  "  punishment  "  in  the  same  passage.  In  the 
present  passage,  therefore,  there  is  not  the  slightest 
evidence  of  any  other  meaning  in  the  word  alojnog  than 
eternal.  Whether  the  xQt'pa,  or  judgment,  include  the 
sentence  and  award  of  both  the  righteous  and  the 
wicked,  or  only  of  the  latter,  it  is  simply  an  "  eternal 
retribution." 

The  phrase  "  eternal  redemption  "  (Heb.  ix.  12) 
does  not  offer  support  to  any  deflection  of  the  word 
eternal  from  its  ordinary  meaning.  Redemption  (Ivzycooig) 
is  defined  in  Robinson's  Lexicon  as  "  deliverance  from 
sin  and  its  consequences."  This  deliverance  is,  in  the 
strictest  sense,  eternal.  The  grace  of  God,  through 
Christ,  will  keep  the  believer  for  ever  holy  and  for  ever 

*  Robinson  cites  eight  other  instances,  not  quite  so  indubitable.  Yet  the 
careful  Ellicott,  while  not  accepting  the  meaning  of  punishment  or  condem- 
nation as  found  in  the  word  itself  in  some  of  these  latter  instances,  adds  (on 
Gal.  v.  10),  "  The  idea  of  punishment  or  condemnation  is  conveyed  by  and 

to  be  deduced  from  the  context.** 
21 


822  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

exempt  from  the  punishment  he  deserves.  "  Eternally 
valid,"  says  De  Wette.  "Eternal,"  says  Bengel,  "  not 
for  a  day  or  a  year  only."  Huther  explains,  "  Of  in- 
destructible efficacy,  in  contrast  to  the  offerings  of  the 
priests,  which  must  be  renewed  each  year."  The  de- 
liverance is  viewed  as  a  permanent  state,  or  if  an  act, 
then  an  act  itself  involving  an  efficacy  and  result ; 
which  efficacy  is  here  described  as  eternal, —  not  c  final,' 
but  enduring  for  ever.  Whatever  idea  of  effect  is  here 
involved  lies  obviously  in  the  redemption,  not  in  the 
word  eternal.  The  force  applied  to  the  latter  word  is 
a  needless  confusion. 

The  case  is  similar  with  the  phrase,  "  the  blood  of 
the  everlasting  covenant  "  (Heb.  xiii.  20).  The  wri- 
ters who  adduce  this  as  an  instance  of  finality  or  eter- 
nity of  effect  would  have  us  conceive  of  the  "  cov- 
enant "  as  comprising  only  a  momentary  or  transient 
transaction,  the  mere  act  of  arrangement ;  whereas,  by 
a  mental  process  as  old  and  as  constant  as  human 
speech,  it  comprises  rather  the  contents  of  that  covenant 
than  the  outward  form  of  making  it.  We  constantly 
say  that  such  a  treaty  or  compromise  or  truce  lasted  so 
many  years  or  days ;  meaning,  of  course,  not  the  process 
of  making  it,  but  the  things  involved  in  it,  —  the  peace 
or  other  terms  covenanted  hj  it.  Precisely  so  here. 
The  covenant  is  eternal ;  that  is,  the  obligations  (and 
blessings)  included  are  never  to  be  terminated  or  su- 
perseded. The  explanation  is  as  old  as  Theodoret,  who 
says,  "  lest  any  one  should  suppose  that  this  covenant 
will  be  terminated  by  another,  he  properly  calls  it  end- 
less, dzelevr^rov ;  "  and  Alford  and  Huther  accept  the 
exposition.     De  Wette  says,  "  it  is  eternal,  inasmuch 


NEW   TESTAMENT  TEACHINGS.  323 

as  the  deliverance  (v.  9,  ix.  12)  and  the  inheritance 
(ix.  15)  are  eternal,  and  the  kingdom  of  Christ  (xii. 
28)  is  enduring." 

Another  cited  instance  is  Philem.  15  :  "  For  perhaps 
he  therefore  departed  for  a  season  that  thou  shouldest 
receive  him  forever "  (auavuw).  All  appearance  of 
mere  finality  vanishes  from  the  word  when  the  English 
translation  is  conformed  to  the  Greek,  viz.,  "  that  thou 
shouldest  have  or  possess  him  fully  for  ever".*  Here 
the  transient  and  uncertain  ownership  of  a  slave  is 
contrasted  with  the  eternal  possession  and  enjoyment 
of  "  a  brother  beloved."  Chrysostom's  explanation, 
"  not  only  in  the  present  time,  but  also  in  that  which 
is  to  come,"  or  for  ever,  is  adopted  by  DeWette,  Meyer, 
Wiesinger  [Olshausen].  "  In  this  life,  and  in  heaven," 
says  Bengel. 

One  other  New  Testament  phrase  remains :  "  The 
everlasting  gospel"  (Rev.  xiv.  6).  It  "certainly  is 
not  to  be  for  ever  preached,"  says  Mr.  Hudson.  No  ; 
nor  does  the  passage  speak  of  the  everlasting  preaching' 
of  the  gospel,  but  of  the  gospel  itself,  —  its  principles 
and  truths.  "  Eternal  truths  of  the  gospel,"  is  Stuart's 
explanation.  "  We  have  a  commentary,"  says  Heng- 
stenberg,  "  in  Matt,  xxiv  35  :  '  Heaven  and  earth  shall 
pass  away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass  away.'  God's 
Word,  his  threatenings  and  promises,  are  eternal  and 
unchangeable,  even  as  he  himself  is  eternal  and  un- 
changeable, and  because  he  is  so."  f  Here  is  no  other 
than  the  common  meaning  of  eternal. 

*  "  Have  him  for  good,"  is  Robinson's  translation  of  airixyc.  "  Possess 
him  fully,  entirely."  Alford.  The  latter  is  the  phraseology  of  Wiesinger, 
De  Wette,  Meyer. 

t  But  for  other  procedures,  we  might  be  surprised  to  find  Mr.  Hudson, 


324  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL.' 

Not  a  passage  in  the  New  Testament  sustains  the 
attempt  to  convert  eternal  into  final.  Equally  unsuc- 
cessful is  the  appeal  to  "equivalent"  instances  in  the 
Old  Testament ;  that  is,  to  cases  where  the  adverb  for 
ever  (nfflb)  is  employed  in  connection  with  a  verb. 
Some  of  the  instances  at  first  seem  plausible  ;  but  a 
closer  examination  shows  that  they  are  made  up  either 
of  cases  where  there  is  an  implied  state  or  condition 
of  things  which  is  eternal,  or  of  cases  in  which  the 
finality  is  directly  stated  in  the  verb  or  noun,  not  in 
the  word  eternal.  Instances  of  the  first  class  are  these : 
"Thou  prevailest  forever  against  him;"  i.e.,  with  a 
superiority  that  lasts  for  ever.  "  Cast  us  not  off  for 
ever ;  "  i.e.,  with  a  perpetual  separation  from  thee.  "  Is 
his  mercy  clean  gone  for  ever  ?  doth  his  promise  fail 
for  evermore  ?  "  an  everlasting  withholding  of  mercy 
from  the  suffering.  "  So  shall  [should]  I  be  delivered 
for  ever  from  my  judge ;  "  a  state  of  perpetual  exemp- 
tion from  further  inflictions  of  judgment.  Instances 
of  the  second  class :  "  Destructions  are  come  to  a  per- 
petual end  "  [Hebrew,  "  to  an  end  for  ever  "]  ;  *  "  It 

without  qualification,  claiming  Poole  and  Barnes  on  this  passage,  "  as  Poole 
and  Barnes  remark,  it  is  so  called  for  its  blessed  and  eternal  effects." 
Whereas  Mr.  Barnes  remarks  thus:  "The  gospel  is  here  called  eternal  (a) 
because  its  great  truths  have  always  existed,  or  it  is  conformed  to  eternal 
truth ;  (b)  because  it  will  for  ever  remain  unchanged,  not  being  liable  to  fluc- 
tuation like  the  opinions  held  by  men;  (c)  because  its  effects  will  be  ever- 
l.isting,  in  the  redemption  of, the  soul  and  the  joys  of  heaven."  All  that 
Poole,  in  his  annotations,  says  on  the  subject  is  this:  "  It  is  called  the  ever- 
lasting gospel,  either  with  reference  to  the  time  past,  as  much  as  to  say,  the 
old  gospel;  or  to  the  time  to  come,  it  being  that  doctrine  of  salvation  be- 
sides which  there  neither  is  nor  ever  shall  be  revealed  any  other  while  this 
world  endureth." 

.   *  "We  waive  any  question  of  the  true  translation  of  this  doubtful  passage 
(Ps.  ix.  6),  and  for  the  argument  assume  the  English  version  to  be  right. 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  325 

oeaseth  for  ever/'  Here  the  finality  is  contained  and 
explicitly  asserted  in  the  words  "end"  and  "ceaseth;': 
and  the  condition  in  which  certain  subjects  are  thereby 
placed  is  pronounced  perpetual,  viz. ;  in  the  one  case  a 
perpetual  powerlessness  to  destroy  (according  to  the 
most  obvious  interpretation)  ;  in  the  other,  the  soul's 
eternal  inability  of  redemption.  The  dullest  intellect 
can  not  fail  to  see  the  difference  between  an  "  everlast- 
ing "  punishment,  and  a  punishment  "  that  comes  to 
a  perpetual  end,"  or  a  punishment  "  that  ceaseth  for 
ever."  Yet  it  is  the  aim  of  Mr.  Hudson's  laborious 
attempts  to  show  that  these  utterly  different  expressions 
mean  the  same  thing ! 

Several  other  passages  are  quoted :  e.g.,  "  They  per- 
ish for  ever"  (Job  iv.  20,  etc.)  ;  "  Thou  hast  put  out 
their  name  for  ever  and  ever  "  (Ps.  ix.  5)  ;  "  God  shall 
likewise  destroy  thee  for  ever  "  (Ps.  Hi.  5).  In  these 
and  other  similar  passages,  the  evident  reference  (as 
indicated  in  the  context)  is  to  a  removal  from  this 
earth  and  its  scenes.  Thus  in  the  last  quoted  passage, 
"  God  shall  likewise  destroy  thee  for  ever :  he  shall 
take  thee  away  and  pluck  thee  out  of  thy  dwelling- 
place,  and  root  thee  out  of  the  land  of  the  living."  In 
all  these  instances,  there  is  an  express  or  implied  allu- 
sion to  the  continuance  of  the  scenes  themselves,  from 
which  the  party  is  to  be  eternally  separated  and  sepa- 
rate ;  the  same  thought  which  is  elsewhere  often  ex- 
pressed (Ps.  ciii.  16,  etc.),  "The  place  thereof  shall 
know  it  no  more."  The  idea  of  duration  still  lies  in 
the  word  :  it  actually  involves  the  continuance  of  one, 
if  not  both,  of  the  objects  thus  related  to  each  other. 

It  is  true,  an  arrangement  that  is  eternal  is  also  final, 


326  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

decisive,  critical,  aoQrjxzog  :  yes,  and  it  is  solemn  and 
momentous  too,  and  must  be  joyous  or  sad,  and  a  good 
many  other  things  ;  but  the  word  "  eternal  "  does  not 
mean  all  these.  And  the'  result  of  all  the  cases  cited 
is,  that  no  instance  can  be  produced  which  can  not 
be  explained  by  the  ordinary  meaning  of  eternal,  or 
which  requires  us  to  deprive  the  word  of  its  funda- 
mental notion  of  duration,  infinite  or  indefinite. 

(4.)  Again :  the  attempt  to  change  the  meaning  of 
eternal,  so  as  to  remove  its  ordinary  signification  of  du- 
ration from  all  threat  of  punishment,  breaks  down  on 
individual  passages.  In  several  instances,  both  forms 
of  evasion,  whether  called  finality  or  eternity  of  effect, 
are  cut  off  as  completely  as  is  possible  by  the  specifi- 
cation of  a  process,  not  of  a  result,  and  by  statements 
that  the  process  goes  on  consecutively  for  ever.  In  the 
passage  already  quoted  (Rev.  xiv.  11),  the  punishment 
is  "  torment  for  ever  and  ever,"  and  "  they  have  no  rest 
day  nor  night."  So  also,  in  the  same  lake  of  fire  ill 
which  all  the  wicked  have  their  part,  the  devil,  the 
beast,  and  the  false  prophet,  are  "  tormented  day  and 
night  for  ever  and  ever"  (Rev.  xx.  10).  No  finality 
or  eternity  of  effect  can  cover  these  statements.  In 
Jude  6,  the  sinning  angels  are  in  perpetual  imprison- 
ment, u  reserved  in  everlasting  chains  under  darkness, 
unto  the  judgment  of  the  great  day  ;  "  and,  in  verse  13, 
the  same  "  blackness  of  darkness,"  apparently,  is  the 
doom  of  wicked  men.  In  Mark  iii.  29  (according  to 
the  amended  reading),  it  is  a  state  of  eternal  sin. 
Sometimes  the  endless  duration  of  the  infliction  is  de- 
scribed by  language  in  which  the  word  "  eternal  "  does 
not  occur.     Thus  in  Matt.  v.  25,  26,  it  is  an  imprison- 


NEW   TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  327 

ment  from  which  there  is  no  deliverance  till  the  utmost 
farthing  is  paid  ;  and  in  Matt,  xviii.  34,  it  is  being  "  de- 
livered to  the  tormentors  till  he  should  pay  all  that 
was  due."  And  again,  in  Mark  ix.  48,  it  is  the  fire 
that  is  not  quenched,  and  the  worm  that  never  dies.* 
Many  if  not  all  these  forms  of  statement  are  wholly 
incompatible  with  any  other  than  the  ordinary  applica- 
tion of  the  words  denoting  eternity. 

(5.)  This  attempt  to  find  only  finality  in  the  terms 
describing  future  punishment  is  disproved  by  the  na- 
ture of  that  punishment.  As  we  have  already  shown 
at  large,  the  New  Testament  constantly  insists  upon 
the  woe  of  the  doom,  the  anguish  endured.  As  the 
punishment  consists  in  suffering,  there  is  not  only  no 
necessity,  but  no  excuse,  for  the  attempt  to  disturb  the 
well-settled  meaning  of  the  language  which  ascribes  to 
it  positive  duration  in  the  same  terms  and  connection 
in  which  eternal  duration  is  ascribed  to  the  blessedness 
of  the  righteous. 

We  may  add,  that  this  and  all  other  attempts  to  evade 
the  doctrine  of  eternal  punishment  by  tampering  with 
particular  words  and  phrases  is  cut  off  by  the  consid- 
eration we  are  about  to  mention. 

3.  That  the  suffering  of  the  wicked  is  eternal,  is 
proved  by  the  repeated  declarations  which  describe  it 
as  co-existent  and  co-eternal  with  the  blessedness  of 
the  righteous. 

*  Blain  sagely  remarks  (and  Hastings  advances  the  same  view),  with 
small  capitals,  "  It  is  the  fire,  not  the  sinner  or  his  woe,  that  i*  said  to  be 
everlasting."  So  we  suppose  we  are  to  understand  that  it  is  the  "chains," 
and  not  the  prisoner,  who  is  to  be  everlasting  (Jude  6);  and  in  im\ch  the 
same  way  Mr.  Hudson  would  teach  that  the  "punishments  "  may  be  ever- 
lasting, but  not  the  culprit, 


328  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

(1.)  It  is  described  in  general,  as  going  on  simulta- 
neously. In  Luke  xiii.  24-80,  the  Saviour  warns  his 
hearers  to  "  Strive  to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate,"  with 
the  assurance  that  many  will  seek  to  enter  in,  and  will 
not  be  able.  He  represents  the  master  of  the  house 
as  at  length  rising  up,  shutting  the  door,  refusing  them 
admittance.  They  u  begin  to  stand  without  and  to 
knock,"  and  he  bids  them  "  depart  from  me,  all  ye 
workers  of  iniquity."  Christ  then  proceeds  to  describe 
them  as  still  viewing  with  anguish  the  joys  of  heaven 
from  which  they  are  excluded.  "  There  shall  be  weep- 
ing, and  gnashing  of  teeth,  when  ye  shall  see  Abraham 
and  Isaac  and  Jacob  and  all  the  prophets  in  the  king- 
dom of  God,  and  you  yourselves  thrust  out." 

The  same  representation,  somewhat  less  minute,  oc- 
curs in  Matt.  viii.  11,  12  :  "  Many  shall  come  from  the 
east  and  west,  and  shall  sit  down  with  Abraham  and 
Isaac  and  Jacob  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  the 
children  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  cast  out  into  [the] 
outer  darkness  ;  there  shall  be  weeping,  and  gnashing 
of  teeth."  An  important  aspect  of  this  threat  is  ob- 
scured in  the  common  version  (as  we  have  before  re- 
marked) by  so  slight  an  omission  as  that  of  the  article 
"  the  "  in  "  the  outer  darkness."  Both  in  this  passage 
and  in  chap.  xxii.  13,  and  xxv.  30,  the  original  Greek 
designates  it  as  "  the  outer  darkness."  Now,  the  shorter 
expression,  "  outer  darkness,"  would  resist  the  attempt, 
to  convert  "  darkness  "  into  annihilation  ;  inasmuch  as 
it  is  darkness  outer,  or  outside  of  the  kingdom  of  hea- 
ven. But  when  it  is  spoken  of  as  "  the  outer  darkness," 
or  the  darkness  without  (to  Gxorog  rb  l^okeQOv),  it  can  sig- 
nify nothing  else  than  the  state  of  darkness  and  gloom 


NEW    TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  329 

which  exists  outside  of  that  region  of  holy  blessedness ; 
and  this  meaning  is  farther  made  certain  by  the  expla- 
nation, in  each  of  these  passages,  "there  [in  that 
place]  shall  be  weeping,  and  gnashing  of  teeth."  Here, 
again,  the  sitting-down  with  Abraham  in  the  kingdom, 
aud  the  weeping,  and  gnashing  of  teeth,  in  the  state  of 
outer  darkness,  are  simultaneous  ;  just  as,  in  Luke  xvi. 
20,  25,  the  happiness  in  Abraham's  bosom  and  the  tor- 
ment in  hell  are  described  as  cotemporaneous. 

In  one  of  the  passages  just  alluded  to  (Matt.  xxv. 
30),  the  representation  is  similar.  When  the  lord  of 
the  kingdom  reckons  with  his  servants,  the  two  faithful 
ones  are  welcomed  with  the  invitation,  "Enter  thou 
into  the  joy  of  thy  lord  ;  "  and  the  unprofitable  servant 
is  cast  "  into  the  outer  darkness  ;  there  shall  be  weep- 
ing, and  gnashing  of  teeth."  The  joy  and  the  sorrow 
are  clearly  spoken  of  as  co-existent  conditions,  in  which 
the  two  parties  were  to  dwell  simultaneously ;  while 
the  one  enters  into  the  joy  of  his  lord,  the  other  is  in 
the  outer  darkness,  where  is  weeping,  and  gnashing  of 
teeth. 

Perfectly  clear  and  coincident  with  these  texts  is 
Rev.  xxii.  14,  15  :  "  Blessed  are  they  that  do  his  com- 
mandments, that  they  may  have  right  to  the  tree  of 
life,  and  may  enter  in  through  the  gates  into  the  city. 
For  without  are  dogs  and  sorcerers  and  whoremongers 
and  murderers  and  idolaters,  and  whosoever  loveth 
and  maketh  a  lie."  Here  the  final  condition  of  the 
impure  and  wicked  is  described  as  their  being  without, 
or  outside  of  the  heavenly  city,  within  which  the  holy 
are  admitted.  It  is  the  same  state  of  exclusion  from 
the  heavenly  kingdom  which  is  elsewhere  described  as 
the  outer  darkness. 


330  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

The  same  idea  of  exclusion  is  contained  in  the  para- 
ble of  the  wise  and  the  foolish  virgins,  in  the  same 
chapter.  ■  When  the  wise  had  entered  with  the  bride- 
groom, "  the  door  was  shut."  The  foolish  remain 
without. 

Equally  in  point  is  Christ's  representation  (Matt.  vii. 
21-23)  that  the  two  alternatives,  "  in  that  day,"  are 
an  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  or  a  separa- 
tion from  the  presence  of  Christ :  "  Then  will  I  pro- 
fess unto  them,  I  never  knew  you ;  Depart  from  me, 
ye  that  work  iniquity." 

In  Matt.  xxiv.  48-51,  this  separation  is  described 
as  a  companionship  with  hypocrites,  and  a  participa- 
tion in  their  woeful  lot,  —  "  shall  appoint  him  his  por- 
tion with  the  hypocrites  ;  there  shall  be  weeping,  and 
gnashing  of  teeth."  (The  reader  will  observe  that  the 
same  phrase,  "  to  have  a  part  or  portion  with  one,"  is 
used  in  John  xiii.  8,  to  describe  the  connection  of  be- 
lievers with  Christ,  as  sharing  his  destiny.) 

The  companionship  in  the  state  of  exclusion  and 
woe  is  still  further  indicated  in  Rav.  xxi.  7,  8,  where, 
on  the  one  hand,  "  he  that  overcometh  shall  inherit  all 
things,  and  I  will  be  his  God,  and  he  shall  be  my  son ; " 
and  on  the  other,  "  the  fearful  and  unbelieving  and 
(he  abominable  and  murderers  and  whoremongers  and 
sorcerers  and  idolaters  and  all  liars  shall  have  their 
part  in  the  lake  which  burnetii  with  fire  and  brim- 
stone" —  the  place  of  "torment."  Here  the  same 
phrase  describes  participation  in  woe,  which  in  the  pre- 
vious chapter  describes  the  participation  of  the  holy  in 
the  well-being  of  the  first  resurrection  :  "  Blessed  and 
holy  is  he  that  hath  part  in  the  first  resurrection." 


NEW    TESTAMENT   TEACHINGS.  331 

The  Scripture  thus  plainly  describes  a  condition  of 
separation  hereafter  from  Christ  and  the  holy,  of  ex- 
clusion from  the  joys  of  heaven,  and  companionship 
with  the  wicked  in  their  woes,  which  exists  and  contin- 
ues while  the  holy  are  in  heaven. 

(2.)  The  punishment  of  the  wicked  is  described  as 
co-eternal  with  the  well-being  of  the  righteous. 

In  Matt,  xxv.,  the  co-eternity  of  the  two  destinies  is 
twice  implied  or  asserted.  First,  in  his  address,  the 
Judge  (verses  34, 41)  says  to  the  righteous,  "  Come,  ye 
blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for 
you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,"  —  that  king- 
dom which  is  everywhere  described  as  an  "  everlasting 
kingdom,"  — and  to  the  wicked,  "  Depart  from  me,  ye 
cursed,  into  everlasting  fire  prepared  for  the  devil  and 
his  angels."  The  two  parties  enter  at  the  same  time  on 
two  opposite  destinies, —  the  one  of  which  is  universally 
declared  eternal  (though  here  it  is  only  implied) ;  and 
the  other,  the  punishment  of  the  wicked,  is,  in  express 
terms,  pronounced  "  everlasting."  Secondly,  in  the 
conclusion  of  the  narrative,  both  destinies  are  alike  de- 
scribed as  states  or  conditions  on  which  the  two  par- 
ties simultaneously  enter,  and  both  are  alike  pro- 
nounced eternal :  "  And  these  shall  go  away  into  ever- 
lasting punishment ;  but  the  righteous,  into  life  eternal." 
Let  three  points  in  this  passage  be  noted :  (1)  that  no 
more  in  the  one  case  than  in  the  other  is  the  retribution 
a  transient  act  or  process  to  which  (jtqog)  the  parties  go, 
but  a  something  into  which  (e4*)  they  both  enter  alike;* 
(2)  that  no  more  in  the  one  case  than  in  the  other  have 

*  "  Go  away  into,"  says  Blain,  innocently,  p.  77,  "  adds  darkness  to  the 
text."    He  would  read  "go  away  to." 


332  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

we  a  right  to  depart  from  the  true  meaning  of  eternal 
(f«oowo*>),  as  designating  everlasting  continuance;  ( 
that  the  repeated  application  of  the  term,  in  the  same 
connection,  to  the  punishment  of  the  wicked,  as  well  a> 
its  use  side  by  side  with  its  application  to  the  happiness 
of  the  righteous,  gives  it  an  emphasis  which  no  sophis- 
try can  evade. 

In  Rev.  xiv.  10,  the  torment  of  the  wicked,  which  in 
the  following  verse  (11th)  is  declared  to  proceed  day 
and  night  for  ever  and  ever,  is  asserted  to  take  place 
in  the  presence  (i.e.  in  the  sight)  of  the  holy  angels 
and  the  Lamb :  "  And  he  shall  be  tormented  with  fire 
and  brimstone  in  the  presence  of  the  holy  angels,  and 
in  the  presence  of  the  Lamb."  The  word  translated 
uin  the  presence  of"  (ivamov)  is  very  frequently  used 
in  the  New  Testament  to  signify  simply  "  in  sight  of," 
and  is  here  so  translated  by  Alford,  Hengstenberg, 
Stuart,  Huther,  and  others,  sustained  by  Luke  xvi. 
23,  ff.*  The  final  separation  between  the  righteous 
and  the  wicked,  which  the  Scripture  everywhere  in- 
sists upon,  manifestly  requires  this  translation  here. 
Still,  the  phraseology  of  the  received  version  would  be 
equally  apposite  to  the  argument.  In  either  case,  the 
holy  angels,  and  the  Lamb  in  heaven,  are  represented 
as  spectators  of  the  incessant  and  eternal  punishment 
of  the  wicked.  The  two  eternal  conditions  proceed 
cotemporaneously. 

Dan.  xii.  2  also  describes  in  the  same  utterance  the 
"life  "  of  the  righteous  and  the  "  shame "  of  the  wicked, 
by  the  same  epithet  "  everlasting."      It  can  not  with- 


*  Stuart  finds  the  additional  thought,  that  it  is  with  their  approbation. 


NEW   TESTAMENT  TEACHINGS.  333 

out  violence  be  understood  otherwise  than  as  declaring 
them  to  be  equally,  and  in  the  same  sense,  everlasting. 
The  passage,  2  Thess.  i.  7-11,  involves  the  same 
view.  Here  the  general  statement  (verses  6,  7),  that 
God  will  recompense  to  the  one  class  "  tribulation,"  and 
to  the  other  "  rest,"  is  followed  by  the  particular  asser- 
tion (verse  7),  that  this  shall  take  place  when  the  Lord 
Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven  with  his  mighty 
angels  ;  at  which  time  the  one  class  "  shall  be  punished 
with  everlasting  destruction  from  [away  from]  the 
presence  of  God  and  the  glory  of  his  power,"  and  at 
the  same  time  he  shall  "  be  glorified  in  his  saints." 
Some  have  indeed  held  that  the  word  "  from  "  (auto) 
simply  denotes  the  source  from  which  the  punishment 
proceeds.  But  this  thought  has  already  been  fully  set 
forth  in  verses  7  and  8 :  "  The  Lord  Jesus  revealed  in 
flaming  fire  taking  vengeance ;  "  and,  on  this  interpre- 
tation, the  9th  verse  would  be  a  mere  repetition  with- 
out the  slightest  addition,  except  the  eternity  of  the 
punishment.  For  this  good  reason,  Alford,  Bloomfield, 
Lunemann,  and  many  other  able  interpreters  (Beza, 
Schott,  Koppe,  Michaelis,  Piscator,  Schmidt,  Krause), 
maintain  the  meaning  "  away  from,"  "  separate  from." 
In  any  case,  the  eternity  of  the  punishment  is  strongly 
set  forth  as  a  retribution  commencing  side  by  side  with 
the  rest  and  glory  of  the  righteous. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

TENDENCIES  AND   AFFINITIES  OF  THE  SYSTEM   OF  ANNIHI- 
LATION. 

WE  have  now  considered  the  system  which  teaches 
the  annihilation  of  the  wicked,  and,  we  trust, 
have  refuted  it.  We  have  shown  negatively  that  its 
arguments  are  baseless,  and  positively  that  the  Scrip- 
tures abundantly  contradict  it. 

Light  is  often  cast  upon  a  system  by  observing  its 
effect  upon  its  adherents.  The  present  system  is  too 
recent,  and  too  limited  in  its  acceptation,  to  show  its 
full  moral  bearing.  Many  of  its  advocates,  moreover, 
are  professedly  religious  men,  who  have  been  led  to  its 
adoption,  no  doubt,  by  their  shrinking  from  the  severity 
of  the  Scripture  doctrine.  In  such  hands,  the  moral 
drift  of  the  doctrine  may  be  slow  in  showing  itself. 
So  was  it  with  Universalism  in  the  hands  of  John  Mur- 
ray ;  so  with  Unitarianism  in  the  days  of  Channing  and 
Worcester  ;  but  both  these  systems  have  their  history. 

Let  the  present  system  find  its  way  into  general  ac- 
ceptance, let  bad  men  but  have  the  additional  encourage- 
ment of  a  doctrine  that  closes  their  responsibility,  and 
the  result  is  not  difficult  to  foresee.  Bad  men  have 
always  had  a  hankering  after  the  doctrine.  When  they 
30uld  not  persuade  themselves  of   the  future  happi- 

334 


THE  SYSTEM  OF  ANNIHILATION.  335 

ness  of  the  wicked,  they  have  most  earnestly  coveted 
annihilation  as  the  next  best  gift.  It  is  well  known 
what  use  the  ancient  Epicureans  made  of  their  denial 
of  immortality.  Ede,  lude,  bibe,  was  the  maxim,  — 
"  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry. "  We  know  also  how  those 
reckless  men  who  once  filled  Paris  with  debauchery 
and  blood  inscribed  over  the  entrance  of  all  the  pub- 
lic cemeteries,  "Death  is  an  eternal  sleep."  We  have 
Paul's  own  commentary  on  the  moral  result  of  a  denial 
of  the  resurrection  :  "  If  the  dead  rise  not,  let  us  eat 
and  drink ;  for  to-morrow  we  die."  * 

Even  Mr.  Hastings,  one  of  the  ablest  advocates  of 
the  annihilation  of  the  wicked,  enters  his  solemn  pro- 
test against  the  doctrine  of  no  resurrection  for  the 
wicked,  on  the  ground  of  its  moral  effects.  "  The  re- 
sults of  that  opinion  [in  France]  are  matter  of  histo- 
ry ;  and,  though  the  idea  of  a  resurrection  of  the  just 
to  life  and  glory  changes  essentially  the  fate  of  the 
believer,  it  makes  little  difference  with  the  prospects  of 
the  ungodly.  A  mother,  after  her  youthful  daughter 
had  been  associated  with  a  preacher  who  taught  this 
doctrine,  told  me  how  they  drew  inferences  of  impunity 
in  sin  and  security  in  impenitence  which  they  could 
mention  and  act  upon,  though  he  might  not  be  affected 
by  them.  I  myself  have  been  met  with  the  same  ob- 
jection when  I  have  sought  to  warn  unconverted  men 
to  repent,  and  turn  to  God ;  '  if  we  die,  and  that  is  the 
last  of  us,  it  is  no  great  loss.'  "  f  If  such  is  the  moral 
influence  of  the  doctrine  of  no  resurrection,  what  must 

*  1  Cor.  xv.  32:  "  This  connection  of  the  clauses  is  the  one  maintained 
by  Bengel,  Meyer,  De  Wette,  Alford,  and  others. 
f  Retribution,  p.  155. 


336  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

be  the  effect  of  the  doctrine  of  resurrection  only  to  an- 
nihilation ?  What  is  the  essential  difference  ?  The 
testimony  is  important  from  such  a  source. 

We  might  well  hope,  that,  in  the  midst  of  a  Christian 
community,  these  results  of  open  vice  would  be  slow  to 
show  themselves  ;  perhaps  would  never  appear.  More 
likely,  the  chief  influence  would  be  a  recklessness  of 
the  restraints  of  religion. 

But  there  are  certain  tendencies  and  affinities  of  the 
whole  system  which  do  very  distinctly  betray  them- 
selves thus  early  in  the  writings  of  its  advocates. 

1.  Rationalism  :  a  tendency  to  disparage  the  author- 
ity and  override  the  teachings  of  God's  Word.  Fore- 
most in  this  respect,  both  in  objectionableness  and  in 
adroitness,  stands  Mr.  Hudson.  It  lies  in  his  writings, 
not  in  gross  and  offensive,  but  in  guarded  and  yet  de- 
termined forms.  His  first  and  larger  volume  (Debt 
and  Grace)  is  an  attempt  to  settle  the  whole  question 
on  purely  rational  grounds.  There  is  a  brief  examina- 
tion of  Scripture,  necessitated  by  the  nature  of  the  case, 
occupying  one-seventh  of  the  volume.  But  the  con- 
clusion is  established  before  reaching  the  Scriptures  ; 
and  established  on  such  principles  as  would  give  them 
no  opportunity  to  testify  against  him,  or  as  would 
seemingly  question  their  authority,  and  join  the  skeptic, 
if  they  did.  What  is  the  true  meaning  of  such  pas- 
sages as  the  following  in  his  preliminary  argument  ?  He 
is  speaking  of  the  influence  of  the  belief  of  eternal  suf- 
fering on  "  the  victim  of  abused  power  "  in  this  world, 
who,  he  affirms,  "  can  hardly  know  what  faith  is." 

"  Tell  him  of  an  eternity  in  which  men  of  the  most 
opposite  conditions  in  this  life  may,  in  various  degrees, 


V 

THE   SYSTEM  OF  ANNIHILATION.  337 

suffer  together,  and  that  will  not  give  him  faith.  As 
for  himself,  he  feels  sure  that  his  present  sufferings  can 
not  be  the  beginning  of  endless  pains.  Persuade  him 
thus,  and,  however  good  you  may  say  God  is,  your 
theology  will  be  to  him  a  divine  despotism,  and  his 
faith  is  prostrate."  * 

Again  :  "  Better  no  God  than  an  evil  God.  Hence 
every  theology  which  imposes  evil  as  an  eternal  neces- 
sity, f  or  introduces  it  as  a  divine  plan,  tends  to  the 
denial  of  the  moral  quality  of  sin  and  of  a  personal 
divine  Being.  Total  darkness  is  preferred  to  the  bale- 
ful light.  Better  no  sun  frowning  with  lurid  glare, 
than  that  the  green  earth,  with  myriads  of  people, 
should  be  scorched  with  deathless  heat.  A  law  of  Na- 
ture, an  impersonal  and  unthinking  God,  inextricably 
enveloped  in  the  folds  of  matter,  and  only  to  be  dis- 
covered as  the  no-God,  would  be  the  most  grateful  re- 
ligion to  such  a  woe-worn  world. 

"  But  men  are  not  wont  to  rest  in  the  doctrine  of 
eternal  evil,  until  it  is  proven  past  all  gainsaying ;  and 
the  belief  of  a  personal  God  is  almost  as  natural  as  the 
disbelief  of  eternal  evil.  Hence  the  assertion  of  eternal 
suffering  as  a  revealed  doctrine  tends  not  so  directly  to 
atheism,  as  to  a  rejection  of  the  Bible  for  some  form  of 
deism.  Of  this  skepticism,  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  the 
eloquent  defender  of  the  doctrine  of  divine  providence, 
is  an  example.  .  .  . 

"  It  will  not  do  here  to  say  that  skeptics  are  bad  men, 
rejecting  the  Scriptures  not  so  much  because  they  are 

*  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  62. 

t  "  The  doctrine  of  eternal  sin  and  misery,  as  the  result  of  evil  in  time, 
logically  involves  the  eternal  necessity  of  evil."  p.  27. 

22 


^/ 


338  LIFE   AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

supposed  to  reveal  an  eternal  punishment,  as  because 
they  do  teach  a  future  punishment.  True  it  is  that 
fallen  man  dislikes  a  God  of  justice.  But  when  Chris- 
tians overlook  the  difference  between  finite  and  infinite 
punishment,  or  rather  between  infinite  loss  and  endless 
pain,  they  may,  instead  of  removing  a  stumbling-block, 
only  give  new  occasion  of  offense.  Thinking  men  are 
loth  to  hear  of  a  God  who  can  not  punish  at  all,  but 
he  must  punish  eternally."  * 

We  fail  to  comprehend  the  bearing  of  these  declara- 
tions, if  they  do  not  mean  very  emphatically  to  say 
that  it  is  better  to  discard  a  revelation  than  to  receive 
one  containing  the  hated  doctrine  ;  and  that  nothing 
can  or  ought  to  make  men  submit  to  receive  it.  To 
the  same  purport  is  cited,  as  part  of  the  argument, 
though  not  formally  indorsed  in  word,  a  lengthened 
quotation,  justifying  John  Foster  in  doubting  that 
doctrine,  though  admitting  that  the  Word  of  God  is 
formidably  strong  against  him.  It  begins  :  "  If  John 
Foster,  or  any  man,  deliberately  and  honestly  conceive 
it  irreconcilable  with  infinite  love  that  God  should  con- 
demn the  wicked  to  everlasting  punishment,  we  see  not 
how  he  can  accept  the  fact  without  blasphemy.  If  a 
man's  reason,  gazing  earnestly  and  reverently,  with 
lively  consciousness  of  its  own  faint  and  glimmering 
vision,  and  full  of  thoughts  of  the  compass  and  weight 
of  infinite  love  guiding  infinite  power,  is  yet  unable, 
we  say,  not  to  justify,  but  to  believe  in,  the  possible 
justice  of  eternal  torments,  we  see  not  how  he  can  ac- 
cept the  doctrine."  f  Here  the  reader  will  perceive 
the  naked  position,  that  no  testimony,  not  even  of  God, 

*  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  64.  f  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  56. 


THE   SYSTEM   OF  ANNIHILATION.  339 

can  bind  a  man  to  accept  the  fact,  against  his  own 
judgment  of  what  infinite  love  requires, — a  sentiment 
that  loses  none  of  its  rationalism  nor  objectionableness, 
though  cited  from  such  an  author  as  Bayne.* 

In  the  same  tone,  Mr.  Hudson  informs  us,  page  157, 
"  that  there  can  be  no  triumph  of  faith,  if  evil  is  uncon- 
querable ;  and  it  is  unconquerable  if  its  extirpation 
would  impair  the  welfare  of  the  world,  or  bedim  the 
glory  of  God."  And,  on  page  157,  we  learn,  that,  "  if 
our  doctrine  of  evil  be  true,  it  gives  us  a  valid  the- 
ism." 

The  author's  attention  having  been  called  by  one  of 
his  reviewers  to  the  insignificant  place  occupied  by  the 
scriptural  discussion  in  his  larger  work,f  he  issued  the 
smaller  volume,  entitled  "  Christ  our  Life."  The  open- 
ing sentence  of  this  volume  is  highly  significant.  It 
reads  thus,  the  Italics  being  ours  :  — 

"  The  present  essay  is  an  enlarged  form  of  a  single 
chapter  of  a  previous  work,  and  is  designed  to  meet  the 
convenience  of  those  who  rely  for  their  views  of  future 
life  upon  the  reading  and  interpretation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures." % 

The  closing  paragraph  of  the  preface  opens  with  the 
following  significant  hint :  — 

"For  the  reasons  thus  indicated,  the  writer  doubts 
if  an  exclusively  Scriptural  argument  will  prove  satis- 
factory to  very  many,  however  clearly  it  may  appear 
to  be  made  out."  § 


*  The  bold  citation,  however,  does  not  present  Bayne's  full  view  of  the 
case,  nor  do  him  justice. 

f  See  preface  to  Christ  our  Life,  p.  1. 
\  lb.  p.  3.  §  lb.  p.  4. 


340  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

In  this  latter  volume,  when  the  author  arrives  at 
the  troublesome  texts  of  the  Apocalypse,  he  prepares 
the  way  by  a  page  and  a  half  of  statements  affecting  the 
canonical  claims  of  the  book.  Of  course,  he  professes, 
as  always,  to  be  above  taking  any  advantage  of  the  fact: 
"  We  say  at  the  outset,  that  we  are  not  going  to  deny 
the  canonical  character  of  the  Apocalypse."  Yet  in 
the  next  sentence  the  motive  leaks  out :  "  But  when  a 
reviewer,  as  cited  above,  page  71,  plants  a  chief  corner- 
stone of  argument  in  that  book,  it  is  proper  that  the 
reader  should  know  the  facts  of  which  biblical  critics 
are  generally  aware."  *  Yet  Mr.  Hudson  reaches  an 
important  conclusion,  —  that  the  Apocalypse  is  one  of 
the  disputed  books,  and  should  not  "  be  alleged  as  af- 
fording alone  sufficient  proof  of  any  doctrine."  And, 
lest  this  caveat  should  be  ineffectual,  he  makes  the  ad- 
ditional suggestion  :  "  Yet,  if  any  one  fears  there  must 
be  a  loose  or  a  strained  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures 
somewhere,  the  Apocalypse  is  the  book  of  all  others 
which  forbids  a  rigid  interpretation."  f  Of  course, 
with  such  a  preparation,  it  is  easy  to  make  the  phrase, 

*  Christ  our  Life,  p.  136. 

t  Christ  our  Life,  pp.  137, 138.  It  is  entirely  unsuitable  to  enter  at  large 
on  the  question  of  authorship  within  these  limits;  a  question  that  occupies 
60  pages  of  Davidson's  Introduction.  And  it  seems  to  us  little  less  than 
criminal  to  throw  out  doubts  for  controversial  purposes  in  the  futile  style  of 
Mr.  Hudson's  allusions,  where  the  subject  is  neither  argued  nor  even  intel- 
ligently presented.  We  merely  say  that  the  historical  or  traditional  evi- 
dence is  decided  in  favor  of  the  authorship  by  John  the  Apostle :  the  only 
doubts  raised  have  been  founded  on  the  style  and  contents.  Such  men  as 
Davidson  and  Alford  are  satisfied.  Alford,  while  admitting  some  difficul- 
ties in  the  style,  not  fully  accounted  for,  yet  speaks  thus  of  the  external 
evidence :  "  It  is  of  the  highest  and  most  satisfactory  kind.  It  was  unani- 
mous in  very  early  times.  It  came  from  those  who  knew  and  had  heard 
the  apostle  himself.     It  only  begins  to  be  impugned  by  those  who  had  doctrinal 


THE   SYSTEM   OF  ANNIHILATION.  341 

"tormented  day  and  night  for  ever,"  describe  "utter 
and  irreversible  destruction  [annihilation]  in  a  dra- 
matic form." 

Mr.  Hudson  has  himself  borne  important  testimony 
to  the  determined  mode  in  which"  many  of  his  coadju- 
tors ride  over  the  Scriptures.  In  speaking  of  those 
annihilationists  who  deny  that  the  spirit  is  an  immate- 
rial substance,  he  admits  that  their  theory  involves  the 
difficulty  of  making  the  wicked  wholly  die  twice,  and 
of  teaching  a  second  execution  of  the  penalty  of  the 
law.  And  he  adds,  "This  difficulty,  with  another  to 
he  named  hereafter,  has  led  many  to  deny  that  the  *  res- 
urrection  of  the  unjust '  signifies  their  being  made 
alive  y  * 

Ellis  and  Read  are  still  more  outspoken.  "  We  have 
elsewhere  shown  that  the  Scriptures  teach  plainly,  un- 
equivocally, repeatedly,  and  in  the  most  forcible  and 
varied  language,  that  the  fearful  doom  of  the  impeni 
tent  sinner  is  death,  in  the  sense  of  privation  of  life, 
extinction  of  being ;  and  therefore  there  is  no  amount 
of  the  clearest  testimony  which  could  possibly  teach  the 
opposite  doctrine.  It  might  indeed  teach,  were  it  to  be 
found,  that  all  the  testimony  was  contradictory  and 
unworthy  of  credit ;  and,  teaching  yea  and  nay  of  the 
same  doctrine,  we  might  be  fully  justified  in  rending 
our  Bibles  to  pieces,  and  scattering  them  to  the  winds 
of  heaven,  as  unworthy  of  the  slightest  regard.  But, 
blessed  be  God,  the  Scriptures  do  not  teach  yea  and 


objections  to  the  booh.   The  doubt  was  taken  up  by  more  reasonable  men  on 
internal  and  critical  grounds.    But  no  real  substantive  counter  claimant 
was  ever  produced." — Alford's  Gr.  Test.  Prolegomena  to  the  Apoc.   §  117. 
*  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  247. 


342  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

nay  of  the  same  doctrine. "  *  The  spirit  and  meaning 
of  the  above  remarks  (the  first  portion  of  the  Italics 
being  so  indicated  by  the  author)  are  not  mitigated 
by  the  assumption  of  the  last  sentence. 

Mr.  Blain  is  not  behind  his  compeers  :  "  When  all 
other  reasons  fail  to  make  this  doctrine  look  consistent, 
it  is  said,  *  We  must  believe  what  we  can  not  compre- 
hend.' This  argument  is  consistent  where  God's  moral 
character  is  not  involved,  as  in  the  belief  of  his  omni- 
presence, creating  power,  etc. ;  but  it  is  sin  to  believe 
a  doctrine  which  impeaches  his  attributes.  While  some 
other  revealed  doctrines  are  above  our  reason,  none 
contradict  it,  none  injure  his  moral  character,  but  this."  f 
It  is  unnecessary  to  take  advantage  of  the  inadvertent 
admission  that  this  is  a  revealed  doctrine.  Enough 
that  the  writer  precludes  all  testimony  on  the  subject 
by  the  distinct  assertion,  that  this  doctrine  is  so  repug- 
nant to  God's  moral  character,  that  it  would  be  a  sin 
to  believe  it. 

Mr.  Hastings  is  equally  decided :  "  The  doctrine  of 
eternal  anguish  and  torture  of  the  lost  is  in  itself  so 
utterly  opposed  to  our  natural  conceptions  of  God,  as 
revealed  in  the  Bible,  that  it  staggers  the  faith  of  the 
most  devout ;  how,  then,  can  it  be  received  by  the  un- 
believing ?"  x 

Mr.  Burnham  remarks,  in  terms  worthy  of  Theodore 
Parker,  "  The  doctrine  of  eternal  torment  represents 
our  loving  God  as  an  implacable  tyrant."  Again  :  af- 
ter an  enumeration  of  particulars  which  he  declares  to 
be  involved  in  the  doctrine,  he  inquires  :  "  Is  it  possi- 

*  Bible  vs.  Tradition,  p.  175.  f  Death  not  Life,  p.  116. 

|  Pauline  Theology,  p.  76. 


THE   SYSTEM  OF  ANNIHILATION.  343 

ble  that  any  human  being  can  practically  believe  such 
a  horrible  collection  of  revolting  absurdities  to  be  the 
truth  sent  us  by  a  loving  and  merciful  God  ?  "  * 

The  tendency  of  these  and  many  more  like  utter- 
ances is  plain.  The  question  is  a  question  o£fact :  What 
will  God  do  with  the  wicked  ?  These  writers  declare 
the  doctrine  to  be  so  incredible,  that  a  communication 
purporting  to  come  from  God  himself  can  not  prove  it. 
Indeed,  as  already  intimated,  a  very  considerable  por- 
tion of  the  sect  have  taken  the  advance  step  of  denying 
any  resurrection  of  the  wicked,  in  direct  contradiction 
of  Christ  and  of  Paul. 

2.  A  second  tendency  of  these  writers  is  a  marked 
sympathy  with  and  concession  to  the  Universalist  and 
the  infidel. 

We  do  not  refer  to  the  methods  of  dealing  with 
Scripture  texts,  although  the  level  of  Blain's  and 
Ellis  and  Read's  exposition  is  certainly  lower  than  the 
average  of  Universalist  interpretation,  and  not  a  few 
even  of  Mr.  Hudson's  modes  remind  us,  for  magna- 
nimity, of  Hosea  Ballou,  sen.,  and  of  Thomas  Whit- 
temore. 

We  refer  to  the  general  modes  of  argument,  the  po- 
sitions taken  in  regard  to  doctrine,  expressions  of  sym- 
pathy for  Universalists  and  infidels,  and  open  declara- 
tions that  they  have  the  best  of  the  argument  as  against 
the  common  theology,  and  that  even  they  are  justifia- 
ble in  rejecting  a  volume  which  should  contain  such  a 
doctrine  as  the  majority  of  Christians  in  all  ages  have 
held  to  be  in  the  Bible. 

(1.)  General  methods  of  argument  employed  by  the 

%  ' — ■ —  ■        —  ■■  ■  -  ■■ ■■■    ■-■■.-  — — — — —  - »  ■■'    ■ 

*  Anti-eternal  Torment,  p.  8. 


344  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

two  classes  are  substantially  the  same.  There  is  the 
same  dogged  and  invincible  repudiation  of  a  teaching 
which  certainly  lies  on  the  face  of  the  Bible,  loading  it 
with  epithets  of  scorn  and  malignity. 

Thus  Mr.  Hudson,  as  we  have  seen  (page  338),  calls 
it  "  a  divine  despotism."  And  on  page  50  of  his  Debt 
and  Grace,  after  a  quotation  from  Dr.  Cheever,  setting 
forth  in  somewhat  vivid  terms  the  death  which  follows 
sin,  he  inquires,  "  What  more  could  the  adversary  do 
or  desire  if  lie  were  God  ?  "  Mr.  Burnham  calls  the 
God  who  is  author  of  the  doctrine,  "  an  implacable  ty- 
rant." Ellis  and  Read  speak  of  the  teaching  as  "  this 
most  horrible  doctrine,  which  is  so  derogatory  to  the 
character  of  God,  and  conflicts  so  terribly  with  every 
principle  of  justice  and  humanity  which  God  has  im- 
planted in  the  human  mind."  *  Mr.  Blain  calls  it  "  the 
horrid  doctrine  of  endless  torment,"  "  the  slander  of 
the  Almighty."  f  He  declares,  that  to  show  God  to  be 
"just  and  good  "  is  impossible  for  all  those  "  who  hold 
to  endless  suffering  for  a  failure  in  the  short  and  poor 
probation  man  has  on  earth  ;  "  also  that  the  reasons 
given  to  justify  the  doctrine  "  all  outrage  reason  and 
common  sense  ; "  J  and,  as  we  have  seen,  that  "it  is  a 
sin  to  believe  a  doctrine  which  impeaches  God's  moral 
character,"  as  this  doctrine  does.  Much  more  of 
this  kind  of  language  and  reasoning  is  found  in  this 
writer.  Mr.  Hastings,  after  pronouncing  it  a  doctrine 
"  which  staggers  the  faith  of  the  most  devout,"  and  in- 
quiring, "  how,  then,  can  it  be  received  by  the  unbeliev- 

*  Bible  vs.  Tradition,  p.  276. 

f  Death  not  Life,  preface,  vii-ix. 

J  Death  not  Life,  preface,  p.  iv,  and  p.  116. 


THE   SYSTEM  OF  ANNIHILATION.  345 

ing  ?  "  proceeds  to  call  it  "  the  most  terrific  blasphemy, 
the  most  audacious  and  unmitigated  libel,  ever  uttered 
against  a  God  of  love."  *  Then  follow  two  pages  in 
the  old  Universalist  or  rather  skeptical  strain  : — 

"  Can  it  be  possible,  that  while  the  Lord  was  pass- 
ing by  on  Sinai,  and  thus  proclaiming  his  goodness, 
there  were,  somewhere  in  the  caverns  of  hell,  thousands 
and  thousands  of  wretched  beings  lifting  their  eyes  in 
hopeless  and  never-ending  anguish  ?  .  .  .  God  loved 
the  world  ;  he  gave  his  Son  to  die  for  them  :  and 
while  darkness  gathered  over  the  land,  while  the  earth 
shook  and  the  rocks  rent,  while  Jesus  bowed  and  died, 
a  token  of  God's  good-will  to  man,  can  it  be  true  that 
unnumbered  myriads  of  spirits  were  lost,  were  wailing, 
and  blaspheming  God,"  etc. 

The  interpretation  which  finds  the  doctrine  in  the 
Bible,  is,  according  to  Mr.  Hastings,  a  "  false  and  hor- 
rible interpretation." 

This  method  of  appeal,  not  always  nor  often  in  such  in- 
temperate language,  constitutes  a  very  considerable  sta- 
ple in  the  annihilationist's  argument.  Indeed,  its  inher- 
ent incredibility,  as  cruel  and  derogatory  to  God,  forms, 
under  whatever  disguises,  the  whole  drift  and  strength 
of  the  system.  Even  the  respectable  and  cautious  Dob- 
ney  drops  such  open  statements  as  the  following :  — 

"  I  thank  God,  who  righteously  requires  the  love  of 

*  This  utterance  is  not  relieved  by  the  faint  admission  preceding:  "  We 
say,  first  decide  from  the  Bible  whether  the  doctrine  of  eternal  torment  be 
true,  and  then,  if  we  find  no  such  thing  is  there  taught,  reject  and  oppose  it 
as  the  most  terrific  blasphemy,"  etc.  For  the  whole  strain  of  argument  be- 
fore and  after  is,  that  such  a  thing  can  not  be  believed  concerning  a  God  of 
love ;  and  he  indorses  the  language  which  he  ascribes  to  Bishop  Newton, 
"  Imagine  it  you  may,  but  you  can  never  seriously  believe  it."  —  p.  76. 


846  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

my  whole  heart,  that,  in  his  blessed  revelation,  there  is 
nothing  akin  to  what  I  find  in  human  books  to  make 
my  religion  one  of  terror  rather  than  of  reverent  affec- 
tion ;  reversing  the  apostle's  declaration,  and  making 
perfect  horror  to  cast  out  love. 

"  Speaking  in  the  belief  that  the  popular  doctrine  is 
not  taught  in  Scripture,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  affirm,  that 
any  thing  more  perfectly  adapted  to  harden  men's 
hearts  against  God,  and  hinder  them  from  beginning  to 
think  aright  of  him,  could  not  have  been  contrived."  * 

Open  scoffers  at  the  Bible  have  said  few  fiercer  things 
of  its  teachings.  This  style  of  argument  is  familiar 
to  them,  and  has  been  one  of  their  standing  methods. 

(2.)  Not  less  significant  are  the  numerous  direct 
concessions  to  the  Universalist  and  the  infidel,  which 
abound  in  the  advocates  of  annihilation.  They  con- 
stantly admit  that  Universalists  and  infidels  have  the 
advantage  on  this  subject,  and  are  not  blameworthy 
for  rejecting  such  a  doctrine  at  whatever  cost. 

Mr.  Storrs  writes  as  follows  :  "I  am  glad  in  my  heart 
if  I  can  approach  one  step  toward  Universalists  with- 
out sacrificing  truth  :  for  I  hope  thereby  to  gain  some, 
and  save  them  alive,  by  removing  out  of  their  hands 
their  main  argument  for  universal  salvation ;  viz.,  that 
'  the  idea  of  the  eternal  consciousness  of  innumerable 
human  beings  in  indescribable  torments  is  irreconcila- 
ble with  the  perfections  of  God,  and  that,  therefore,  all 
will  be  saved.'  The  hearer,  seeing  no  other  view  of 
the  subject  but  eternal  sin  and  suffering,  or  Universal- 
ism,  takes  hold  of  the  latter.  Every  one  who  has  had 
any  thing  to  do  with  Universalists  knows  that  this  is 

*  Dobney  on  Future  Punishment,  pp.  133,  158. 


THE   SYSTEM   OF  ANNIHILATION.  347 

their  main  fort,  and  here  it  is  they  always  wish  to  meet 
their  opposers  ;  and  their  converts  are  made  more  from 
the  exhibition  of  the  horribleness  of  the  punishment 
which  their  opposers  say  is  to  be  inflicted  on  the  wicked 
than  any  other  and  all  other  arguments  they  use."  * 

Again  :  "  To  talk  of  a  soul  always  dying  and  never 
dead,  or  of  a  death  that  never  dies,  is  such  an  absurd- 
ity, that  I  wonder  how  it  was  ever  believed  by  any  man 
who  thinks  for  himself.  A  doctrine  that  involves  such 
a  palpable  contradiction  is  not  to  be  promulgated  for 
truth,  unless  we  wish  to  bring  discredit  upon  revelation 
itself;  and  I  can  not  divest  myself  of  the  conviction 
which  I  have  so  often  expressed,  that  the  theory  I  op- 
pose has  driven  many  thinking  men  into  infidelity."  f 

Says  Mr.  Hastings,  "  Hence  many  minds  reject  rev- 
elation entirely,  because  it  teaches,  as  they  suppose,  a 
doctrine  so  utterly  repugnant  to  common  sense  and 
Divine  Goodness.  .  .  .  We  urge  in  justification  of  our 
course,  that  the  doctrine  of  eternal  torture  of  wicked 
men  does  contradict  the  apprehension,  the  experience, 
and  the  reasoning  of  mankind  ;  and,  God  helping  us,  we 
will,  by  a  diligent  and  faithful  examination  of  the  origi- 
nal records,  dismiss  it  from  the  Christian  system,  thus 
taking  away  both  the  scoff  and  the  stumbling-block  of 
the  infidel  and  the  rationalist."  J 

Mr.  Blain  is  very  full  and  varied  in  his  expressions 
to  the  same  effect.  In  his  preface  (page  8),  he  lays 
down  this  sweeping  proposition  for  the  benefit  of  the 
whole  class  of  skeptics :  '.*  It  is  a  sad  fact,  too,  that  more 
millions  of  Universalists,  and,  what  is  far  worse,  of  infi- 

*  Six  Sermons,  p.  118.  f  Six  Sermons,  p.  119 

\  Pauline  Theology,  pp.  76,  77. 


348  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

• 

dels,  deists,  and  atheists,  have  been  made  by  the  popu- 
lar doctrine  than  of  real  saints.  The  church,  too,  has 
been  crowded  with  stony-ground  hearers  by  it."  On 
page  21,  he  informs  us  of  one  of  his  motives  in  advo- 
cating his  system.  After  a  quotation  from  Saurin,  that 
"  this  threatening  is  a  mortal  poison,  diffusing  itself 
into  every  period  of  life,  and  making  life  itself  bitter" 
to  the  wicked,  Mr.  Blain  remarks,  "  I  wish  to  remove 
such  bitterness."  On  the  next  page  (22d),  he  gives 
his  vote  for  theUniversalists  as  against  the  "Orthodox: " 
"  The  fact  is,  and  Universalists  see  it,  if  the  wicked 
are  immortal,  their  doctrine  is  true."  On  page  70,  he 
lays  down  the  proposition,  "  that  orthodox  churches 
on  this  subject  are  equal  to  the  Catholics,  and  much 
worse  than  the  Universalists,  in  quoting  a  few  isolated 
texts,  and  neglecting  to  examine  their  connections." 
One  chapter  of  his  book  (pp.  104  -111)  is  devoted  to 
a  deliberate  attempt  to  show,  that,  in  the  argument 
between  Universalism  and  Orthodoxy,  the  former  has 
greatly  the  advantage  ;  in  which  the  following  pas- 
sages, sufficiently  brief  for  quotation,  show  the  drift  of 
the  whole  :  — 

"  A  Universalist  tract  is  in  circulation,  containing  a 
hundred  texts  for  their  views.  I  have  examined  them, 
a  >d  find  some  fifty,  which,  when  combined,  afford  much 
stronger  proof  for  the  restoration  of  all  men  than  do 
the  texts  for  endless  woe  when  combined  in  like  man- 
ner." *  "The  fact  is  plain  to  all  who  investigate  as 
the  greatness  of  the  subject  demands,  that  if  all  men 
are  immortal,  and  these  texts  are  figurative  [i.e.,  the 
texts  on    which  annihilationists  rely],  restorationists 

*  Death  not  Life,  p.  105. 


THE   SYSTEM  OF  ANNIHILATION.  349 

have  the  truth."*  "The  Church  of  God,  while  aiming 
to  do  good  and  save  men,  by  erring,  has  wronged  the 
Universalists  —  has  made  them  such  —  has  persecuted 
them  for  errors  into  which  she  had  driven  them.  ...  It 
is  slander  to  charge  them,  as  many  do,  with  throwing 
away  the  Bible  (some  are  led  to  it)  as  an  ultimate 
guide  :  they  generally  reverence  it  as  the  grand  char- 
ter of  their  hopes  for  a  future  world.  In  this  we  agree. 
We  owe  them  a  vast  debt,  and  should  make  sacrifices  to 
pay  it."  f 

Mr.  Dobney  declares,  u  Would  we  seek  the  rationale 
of  infidelity,  it  might  to  a  considerable  extent  be  found 
in  this,  that  religious  men,  having  for  the  most  part 
misapprehended  the  truth  of  Scripture  on  this  point, 
have  unconsciously,  and  with  the  best  intentions,  pre- 
sented the  God  of  revelation  in  such  a  light,  that  his 
creatures  whom  he  would  fain  have  addressed  through 
them,  and  won  to  himself,  have  been  scared  at  the  terrific 
aspect."  \  "  And  right  joyous  are  we  to  throw  down 
this  buttress  of  infidelity  which  Orthodoxy  has  assisted 
to  build,  and  to  compel  the  unhappy  opposer  of  Chris- 
tianity to  an  unwonted  silence,  while  the  majestic  voice 
is  heard  from  the  everlasting  throne,  '  Are  not  my  ways 
just  and  equal,  saith  the  Lord."  § 

3.  Another  affinity  of  the  system  already  rapidly 
developing  is  materialism.  We  might  have  anticipated 
that  a  disposition  so  strongly  marked,  to  materialize 
the  utterances  of  the  Bible,  would  naturally  issue  in  a 
doctrine  of  materialism.  But  it  is  not'  necessary  to 
draw  inferences.     Facts  are  already  at  hand. 

*  Death  not  Life,  p.  107.  f  lb.,  p.  109. 

%  Future  Punishment,  p.  258.  §  lb.,  p.  278. 


350  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

Mr.  Storrs  openly  repudiates  not  merely  the  fact,  but 
the  conceivableness,  of  spiritual  existence  as  distinct 
from  matter  :  u  If  it  is  said  [of  the  soul]  it  is  a  spirit- 
ual substance,  I  ask  what  kind  of  substance  is  that, 
if  it  is  not  matter  ?  I  can  not  conceive,  and  I  do  not 
see  how  it  is  possible  to  conceive,  of  substance  without 
matter  in  some  form,  it  may  be  exceedingly  refined. 
1  regard  the  phrase  '  immaterial '  as  one  which  prop- 
erly belong  to  things  which  are  not;  a  sound  without 
sense  or  meaning  ;  a  mere  cloak  to  hide  the  nakedness 
of  the  theory  of  an  immortal  soul  in  man."  * 

Ellis  and  Read  are  very  copious  in  the  same  direc- 
tion. Their  joint  volume  argues  two  main  propositions, 
of  which  the  first  (covering  120  pages  of  discussion) 
is  thus  laid  down :  u  First,  We  shall  prove  from  the 
Bible  the  corporeal  being-  and  mortality  of  the  soul,  and 
the  nature  of  the  spirit  of  man  ;  which  spirit,  not  be- 
ing a  living  entity,  is  neither  mortal  nor  immortal."  f 
Distinguishing  the  soul  from  the  spirit  (as  indicated  in 
the  above  extract),  they  proceed  to  say  that  the  one 
is  simply  corporeal,  nay,  is  the  corporeal  being ;  the 
other  a  kind  of  chemical  or  electrical  agent  that  gives 
it  activity.  The  gist  of  their  dissertation  on  the  soul 
is,  fairly  given  in  the  following  brief  but  decisive  ex- 
tracts :  "  We  say  the  true  meaning  of  soul  is  a  crea- 
ture that  lives  by  breathing."  %  "  Words  can  not  make 
it  more  plain  than  do  these  texts,  that  the  whole  man 
is  a  soul,  and  is  corporeal."  §  "A  soul,  in  Scripture 
phraseology;  means  an  animal  or  creature  or  life  ;  a 
breathing    creature,   originally   designed   to    live    by 

*  Six  Sermons,  p.  29.  f  Bible  vs.  Tradition,  p.  13. 

X  lb.,  p.  15.  §  lb.,  p.  18. 


THE   SYSTEM  OF  ANNIHILATION.  351 

breathing,  whether  such  creature  be  living  or  dead."  * 
"  A  dead  body  is  a  dead  soul,  and  a  dead  soul  is  a  dead 
body."  f  But  does  not  some  higher  doctrine  emerge  in 
connection  with  the  spirit  ?  No  :  the  spirit  is  nothing 
but  the  principle  of  bodily  life.  It  is  the  same  in  ani- 
mals as  in  men,  and  the  superiority  of  men  is  due  only 
to  their  superior  organization.  The  following  extracts 
fairly  represent  the  doctrine.  In  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion, "  What  is  spirit  ?  "  these  writers  say  it  "  primarily 
signifies  wind,  air,  breath  ;  but  it  is  sometimes  used  to 
signify  a  principle  having  some  relation  to  electricity, 
diffused  through  the  atmosphere,  which  is  the  principle 
that  stimulates  the  organs  of  men  and  plants  into  ac- 
tivity, and  which  is  used  by  the  animals  themselves  to 
control  their  motions."  %  "  The  resurrected  Saviour 
and  the  angels  are  tangible  beings."  §  "  This  princi- 
ple of  life  or  spirit  is  not  the  air  nor  the  breath,  but  is 
contained  in  the  air  and  the  breath.  .  .  .  Life,  then,  is 
not  an  abstract  principle,  but  is  an  effect  of  this  spirit 
operating  alike  upon  all  organized  beings.  .  .  .  Man 
has  no  abstract  essence  within  him  which  gives  to  him 
any  pre-eminence  over  the  living  souls  of  other  ani- 
mals. They  all  live,  yea,  the  souls  of  all  live,  in  com- 
mon, by  breathing  the  breath  of  life,  because  this 
breath  contains  the  spirit,  the  sustaining  principle  of 
all  lives.  Man's  superiority  is  derived  from  his  supe- 
rior organization."  |  "  The  spirit  of  man,  then,  is  not  a 
living  entity  ;  and,  though  no  creature  can  live  without 
it,  it  is  not  alive  itself."  \  Ellis  and  Read,  on  page  108, 
recapitulate  their  positions  thus  :  "  That  [the  spirit  of 

*  Bible  vs.  Tradition,  p.  32.  f  Id-,  P-  80.  J  lb.,  p.  84. 

§  lb.,  p.  85.  ||  lb.,  p.  86.  TJ  lb.,  p.  87. 


352  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

man]  is  primarily  a  principle  of  life  contained  in  the 
breath  ;  secondly,  that  the  container  is  put  for  the  con- 
tained, that  it  is  the  breath  ;  thirdly,  that  as  none  of 
the  results  of  animal  life  can  take  place  without  the 
animating  principle,  so  the  various  tempers  and  facul- 
ties of  mind  are  called  spirit.  But,  spirit  though  it  be, 
the  cause  of  life  is  not  life  itself;  and,  although  a  subtle 
agent,  it  can  not  manifest  any  of  the  powers  of  life  in 
an  abstracted  state.  But,  with  the  spirit,  an  organized 
breathing  frame  is  enabled  by  God  to  manifest  the  en- 
ergies of  life.  It  is  therefore  t\\Q  flesh  that  lives:  the 
body  lives,  and  the  spirit  does  not  live  at  all."  *  "  We 
hope  that  enough  has  been  said  to  convince  every  man 
that  man  has  no  spirit  that  can*  have  a  separate  con- 
scious existence."  f  "  So  we  argue,  that  as  the  body 
without  the  spirit  is  dead,  so  the  spirit  without  the 
body  is  dead  also."  $ 

The  chief*  difficulty  is  to  arrest  our  quotations ;  page 
after  page  being  filled  with  such  gross  utterances,  and 
they  professedly  founded  on  the  Scriptures. 

Mr.  Blain  is  equally  emphatic.  He  ridicules  the 
preachers  who  have  raised  against  him  the  cry  of  ma- 
terialism, and  "  repeated  the  old  story,  that  man  has  a 
soul,  or  spirit,  which  is  a  simple  substance,  indivisible, 
immaterial,  uncompounded,  and,  so,  indestructible.  I 
ask,  Why  undertake  to  describe  what  they  know  noth- 
ing about,  and  of  which  all  other  men  are  equally  ig- 
norant ?  "  §  "  Surely  we  have  not  come  in  contact  with 
the  substance  of  a  so-called  soul,  any  more  than  with 
men  in  the  moon.     It  seems  to  me  that  the  crucible 


*  Bible  vs.  Tradition,  p.  109.  f  lb-,  p.  112.  J  lb.,  p  113. 

§  Death  not  Life,  p.  33. 


THE   SYSTEM   OF  ANNIHILATION".  353 

by  which  men  try  the  quality  or  essence  of  the  soul 
must  be  something  like  what  they  say  the  soul  itself  is, 
—  immaterial,  not  tangible  to  the  five  senses,  nor  yet  to 
our  mental  vision :  I  have  never  seen  the  thing."  * 
"  The  Bible  tells  us  plainly  that  man  and  beast  are 
made  of  the  same  material,  '  dust,'  and  that  both 
have  the  *  same  breath ; "  that  they  both  die  alike : 
but  mark,  a  resurrection  is  not  told  for  both."  f  "  The 
fact  is,  the  existence  of  a  spirit,  or  soul,  as  an  entity 
within  us,  is  only  inferred  from  a  few  uncertain  texts,- 
which  can  be  easily  explained  another  way  ;  while 
numerous  plain  texts  and  the  sense  of  the  Bible  are 
against  it.  Where  does  the  book  of  Nature  or  the 
book  of  God  tell  what  soul  or  man  is  made  of,  except 
in  the  earth-wide  and  heaven-broad  declaration,  'Dust 
thou  art  ?  '     Echo  answers,  '  Where  ?  ' "  J 

Mr.  Hudson  is  constrained  to  admit  §  that  "  the 
prevalence  of  a  materialist  philosophy  has  frequently 
attended  the  doctrine "  which  he  maintains ;  and, 
while  he  distinctly  disavows  and  opposes  that  view,  he 
also  deems  it  necessary  to  make  the  following  quasi 
apology  for  it :  "  We  freely  grant,  nay,  in  behalf  of  ma- 
terialists whose  piety  and  devoutness  is  unquestiona- 
ble, we  insist,  that  speculative  materialism  is  not  to  be 
for  itself  condemned."  ||  Perhaps  not :  what  is  there 
to  be  condemned  "  of  itself"  except  the  intents  of  the 
heart  ?  But  is  not  a  practical  materialism  so  openly 
gross  as  we  have  indicated  above  to  be  condemned 
both  for  its  causes  and  its  pernicious  tendencies  ?  When 
religious  teachers  professing  Christianity  publicly  pro- 

*  Death  not  Life,  p.  36.  f  lb.,  p.  39.  J  lb.,  p.  42. 

§  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  243.  ||  lb.,  p.  246. 

23 


854  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

claim  that  a  man  differs  from  a  brute  only  in  "  his  su- 
perior organization,"  and  that  the  end  of  a  man  and 
the  end  of  a  brute  are  precisely  alike,  is  there  nothing 
to  be  condemned  in  such  a  doctrine  ?  When  men  deny 
the  conceivableness  of  "  substance  without  matter,"  and 
even  go  so  far  as  to  aver  that  when  the  Scripture  says, 
"  God  is  a  Spirit,"  and  the  like  expressions,  "  the  na- 
ture of  God  is  not  clearty  determined  by  any  of  these 
expressions,"  *  is  there  nothing  to  be  condemned  in  it  ? 
and  when,  pushed  by  the  emergencies  of  their  own 
system,  they  go  so  far  as  deliberately  to  deny  the  res- 
urrection of  the  unjust,  what  are  the  merit  and  mean- 
ing and  influence  of  such  a  system  ? 

Yet  this  is  apparently  the  popular  form  of  the  doc- 
trine. The  book  of  Ellis  and  Read  had  long  ago 
reached  its  sixth  edition,  and  the  circulation  of  Storrs's 
Six  Sermons  was  claimed  at  twenty-five  thousand  copies 
(though  mostly  gratuitous)  in  1855.  Mr.  Hastings 
deprecates  the  rapid  spread  of  the  view  which  denies 
any  resurrection  to  the  wicked,  and  Mr.  Hudson  cau- 
tiously implies  the  fact.  The  adherents  of  the  doctrine  in 
the  North-west,  so  far  as  we  have  been  informed,  hold 
it  mostly  in  this  shape.  We,  indeed,  have  no  doubt 
that  this  result  is  only  a  natural  growth  of  the  system  ; 
that  the  low  and  gross  modes  of  interpretation  on 
which  the  whole  system  rests  will  naturally  end  in 
this  view.  But  no  matter  for  our  theory  :  such  is  the 
sad  fact. 

4.  A  fourth  tendency  of  this  system  is  to  sensual- 
ism. We  have  not  had  opportunity  to  gather  up,  nor 
has   there   been   time  to  develop,   the  fruits  of   this 

*  Ellis  and  Read,  p.  86. 


THE   SYSTEM   OF  ANNIHILATION.  355 

tendency:  too  many  adherents  of  the  system  were 
trained  among  the  sanctities  of  evangelical  truth  and 
life.  But  what  is  there  to  prevent  a  doctrine  of  re- 
wards as  gross  as  that  of  punishments  ?  Why  should 
they  who  talk  of  a  literal  grinding  to  powder,  and  burn- 
ing to  ashes,  and  recognize  no  other  soul  or  spirit  than 
the  life  of  the  body,  stop  short  of  a  kind  of  Mohamme- 
dan paradise  ?  Why  are  they  not  in  a  state  of  readi- 
ness to  receive  a  heavenly  city  of  literal  gold  and  pre- 
cious stones,  with  streams  and  trees  and  luscious  fruits, 
and  feasting  with  Abraham,  and  drinking  new  wine  with 
the  Saviour  in  his  kingdom  ?  Why  not  even  extract 
the  doctrine  of  "  free-love  "  in  heaven  out  of  Matt, 
xxii.  30,  especially  as  Mr.  Hudson  could  easily  furnish 
many  German  and  some  English  opinions  to  prove 
that  a  literal  fornication  between  the  angels  and  hu- 
man females  is  taught  in  Gen.  vi.  2,  and  Jude  6,  7  ? 

Accordingly,  we  learn  that  already  this  influence  is 
unfolding  itself.  A  writer  in  The  Independent  of 
Aug.  10,  1865  (Rev.  Pharcellus  Church,  D.D.),  in- 
forms us  that  he  has  encountered  the  doctrine  in  this 
gross  form,  except  the  "  free-love  "  element :  "  In  a 
remote  settlement  of  the  West  "  (in  the  State  of  Michi- 
gan), he  found  a  body  of  men  who  hold  that  "the 
wicked  are  annihilated,  their  bodies  being  literally 
burnt  up  in  the  fires  of  the  final  conflagration,  and  be- 
coming ashes  under  the  feet  of  the  righteous. "  They 
have  gone  backward  so  far  in  their  Judaizing  and  ma- 
terializing as  to  take  Saturday  for  the  sacred  day. 
Their  religion  "  is  wholly  materialistic,"  and  "  heaven 
is  reduced  to  a  scene  of  material  delights.  These  peo- 
ple   have  their  camp-meetings,  continuing  them  for 


356  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

days  or  weeks  ;  and  the  fervor  with  which  they  sing, 
pray,  exhort,  and  preach,  about  the  trees,  brooks,  ani- 
mals, and  various  delectations  of  their  material  heaven, 
and  of  the  conflagration  and  resurrection  with  which 
it  is  to  be  introduced,  is  most  inspiring  and  seductive 
to  an  imaginative  auditory. " 

All  this  is  a  legitimate  result,  and  will  only  show  it- 
self more  openly  and  abundantly  as  it  spreads,  if  it 
does  spread,  among  the  masses. 

"  By  their  fruit  ye  shall  know  them."  Men  of  prac- 
tical sense  and  clear  intelligence  —  the  common  mind 
—  will  judge  of  such  influences  as  these.  They  may 
be  puzzled  on  questions  of  interpretation ;  possibly 
they  may,  by  artful  sophistry,  become  befogged  on 
some  very  plain  passages  of  the  Bible :  but  they  can 
read  the  significance  of  such  facts  as  have  been  pre- 
sented in  this  chapter.  When  religionists  openly  assail 
certain  doctrines  or  statements  of  fact  as  too  horrible 
to  be  believed,  nay,  so  incredible  that  men  are  justified 
in  discarding  the  Bible  if  they  be  found  there ;  when 
they  openly  range  themselves  in  this  discussion  on  the 
side  of  the  Universalist  and  the  infidel,  not  only  em- 
ploying their  favorite  arguments,  but  expressing  sym- 
pathy with  them  as  much-abused  classes  of  individuals, 
and  even  siding  with  them  as  having  clearly  the  best 
of  the  argument  as  against  orthodoxy  ;  when  a  great 
body  of  them  push  their  interpretation  down  to  the 
grossest  form  of  materialism,  deny  to  man  any  other 
spirit  than*  the  breath  of  the  body,  declare  that  he  dif- 
fers from  the  brute  only  in  having  a  superior  organiza- 
tion, and  that  he  dies,  and  turns  to  dust,  just  like  the 


THE   SYSTEM   OF  ANNIHILATION.  357 

brute,  —  plain  men  can  read  the  fruit  and  the  character 
of  such  a  system. 

And,  if  such  be  the  tendencies  so  speedily  developed, 
what  shall  be  the  results  in  due  time  ?  Hitherto  the 
doctrine  has  been  advocated  chiefly  by  men  of  Christian 
education  and  evangelical  sympathies, — men  who  will 
never  lose  the  power  of  those  early  influences.  Let  it 
pass  slowly  but  surely  into  other  hands  ;  let  it  per- 
vade any  considerable  body  of  men  and  women, 
removed  from  all  surrounding  restraints  ;  and  we  ven- 
ture to  say,  sustained  by  the  history  of  Epicureanism 
and  of  French  Revolutionism,  as  well  as  by  the  apos- 
tolic warning  (1  Cor.  xv.  32)  and  the  whole  drift  of 
corrupt  humanity,  that  there  will  at  last  be  found  in 
that  community  such  a  fountain  of  materialism  and 
sensualism  as  will  carry  large  numbers,  if  not  the 
mass,  down  to  the  habits  of  the  beasts  whose  destinies 
they  claim :  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink ;  for  to-morrow 
we  die." 


NOTES. 


NOTE  A.— Page  84. 


EXTRACTS    ON   LIFE   AND   DEATH. 


"Life  and  death,"  remarks  Umbreit,  "are  set  over  against  one  an- 
other in  the  Old  Testament  as  well  as  the  New  Testament  :  the  one  as 
including  all  good  that  can  befall  us ;  the  other,  all  evil/'  p.  246  ;  Al- 
ford,  ii.  p.  304. 

Olshausen  says  ("ii.  313),  "  The  creature  contemplated  as  in  isolation 
from  God  is  in  davarog,  death,  and  only  has  life  in  connection  with  God, 
the  fountain  of  life."  Again :  more  fully  (p.  360),  "  With  a  deepty  spir- 
itual meaning,  the  Scripture,  in  general,  ascribes  true  being  to  the  crea- 
ture only  in  connection  with  the  origin  of  that  being :  where  sin  dis- 
solves that  connection,  there  death  (davarog)  steps  in  (Gen.  iii.  3) ;  and 
hence  he  who  lives  in  a  state  of  sin  is  called  dead  (venpog).  Accord- 
ingly, perdition  (anuheia)  is  to  be  taken  as  the  antithesis  to  life  (C^),  and 
equivalent  to  death.  It  does  not  denote  an  annihilation  of  substance  ; 
but  the  true  idea  of  life  (that  of  the  spirit)  requires  consciousness,  and 
that  not  of  the  senses  merely,  but  a  spiritual  consciousness.  This  is 
wanting  where  there  is  a  deprivation  of  spiritual  life  generally,  and  the 
animal  or  carnal  man  (avtipunog  ipvxmog  or  oapmnog)  only  vegetates ; 
such  a  condition,  therefore,  is  called  the  absence  of  life,  or  death.  Now, 
the  design  of  the  advent  of  the  Logos  in  the  flesh  was  to  pour  life  again 
into  dead  humanity  from  a  living  fountain,  to  restore  the  connection 
which  has  been  destroyed.  .  .  .  Without  re-union  to  the  fountain  of  life 
through  faith,  man  remains  in  death."  —  Philo  de  Profugis,  iv.  258; 
Z«^  fxhv  aluvLog  i]  irpbg  rdov  Kara^vyf],  ■duvarog  6'  6  arcd  tovtov  6pac(.i6g.; 
Oh.  ii.  360. 

Tholuck.  —  John  iii.  36  :  "  Here,  indeed,  eternal  life  is  regarded  as  a 
present  thing,  as  in  v.  24,  xvii.  3,  then  in  its  consummation  as  some- 
thing future  :  that,  nevertheless,  the  ova  oiperai  presupposes  an  ovtf  6pn, 

359 


360  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

may  be  readily  inferred  from  the  antithesis  fjevet  q  bpyrj.  The  condition 
of  man  without  faith  is  a  condition  of  bpyrj  (Eph.  ii.  9),  and  the  correl- 
ative of  it  is  misery,  the  ■davarog."  Again,  on  Rom.  v.  12  :  "  The  Scrip- 
ture usage  lays  hold  of  the  notions,  life  and  death,  in  their  innermost 
depths.  Life  is  the  unrestrained  self-unfolding  of  a  being  according  to 
its  indwelling  idea ;  where  it  takes  place,  there  is  harmony,  and,  on  the 
subjective  side,  self-satisfaction,  blessedness.  Accordingly,  also,  biblical 
usage  in  reference  to  life  and  death  includes  next  the  notion  of  well-feel- 
ing and  happiness  (3  M.  xviii.  5;  5M.  xxx.  15  ;  Jer.  xxi.  8 ;  Prov.  xi. 
19;  Sir.  15,  17,  and  in  New  Testament  mostly  with  ethical  reference, 
Matt.  viii.  22  ;  Luke  x.  28,  xv.  32 ;  John  v.  24 ;  1  John  iii.  14 ;  Jas.  i. 
15,  etc.)  But  especially  &rj  is  emphatically  used  to  designate  self-satis- 
faction or  bliss  in  the  other  world  (Matt.  vii.  14,  xviii.  9  ;  John  iii.  36  ; 
Acts  xi.  18,  and  here  Rom.  v.  18)  ;  and  ■Savarog  to  designate  future  mis- 
ery,—  the  life  that  does  not  deserve  the  name  (Rom.  i.  32  ;  2  Cor.  ii.  16, 
vii.  10;  Jas.  i.  15,  v.  20).  The  life  hereafter,  attaining  to  the  perfect 
self-development,  is  the  ovrug  C^rj  (1  Tim.  vi.  19) ;  and  the  completed 
death  is,  in  the  Apocalypse,  named,  with  an  emphasis  already  found  in  the 
Targums,  the  6  fievrepog  davarog.  Even  the  word  uirodavuv,  Paul  uses 
as  a  designation  of  the  loss  of  the  true  life  caused  by  the  sins,  in  this 
world  as  well  as  in  the  future  "  (Rom.  vii.  10,  viii.  12). 

Similarly,  Alford.  Thus  on  John  vi.  51  :  "  The  death  of  the  body  is 
not  reekoned  as  death,  any  more  than  the  life  of  the  body  is  reckoned 
as  life."  On  John  xi.  25,  26,  he  paraphrases  :  "  Faith  in  me  is  the 
source  of  life,  both  here  and  hereafter ;  and  those  who  have  it  have  life, 
so  that  they  shall  never  die ;  physical  death  being  overlooked  and  dis- 
regarded, in  comparison  with  that  which  is  really  and  only  death." 
Again,  on  1  John  v.  12  :  "  The  '  having  the  life  '  is  the  actually  possess- 
ing it,  not  indeed  in  its  most  glorious  development,  but  in  all  its  reality 
and  vitality."  On  1  John  iii.  15,  "  '  Abideth  in  death,'  in  that  realm  of 
death  in  which  all  men  are  by  nature.  .  .  .  The  words  have  no  reference 
to  future  death  any  further  than  as  he  who  is  and  abides  in  death  can 
but  end  in  death."     Liicke  speaks  to  the  same  effect  in  briefer  terms. 

Meyer  uses  similar  statements.  Thus  on  John  iii.  36  :  "  Hath  eternal 
life  "  —  he  hath  eternal  life,  namely,  the  Messianic  &rj  which  in  its  true 
development  is  already  a  present  possession  of  believers.  At  the  Parou- 
sia  it  is  completed  and  glorified." 

De  Wette  ( John  v.  24)  remarks  on  "hath  eternal  life,"  "has,  pos 
sesses,  not  shall  have.    '  Shall  not  come  into  condemnation  '  is  the  same 
as  '  shall  not  see  death  '  (viii.  51).     '  Has  passed,'  even  in  the  act  of  be- 
lieving; this  perfect  is  to  be  held  fast  as  such,  as  in  iii.  18;  I  John  iii. 
14.     'From  death,'  from  spiritual  death." 


NOTES.  361 

These  extracts  might  be  extended  almost  indefinitely.  The  agree- 
ment of  respectable  expositors  is  unanimous.  To  miss  this  deep  mean- 
ing of  the  Scripture  terms  is  not  to  see  the  light  of  noon-day. 


NOTE  B.  —  Page  198. 
Phil.  i.  21-24. 

Mr.  Hudson  makes  some  four  or  even  five  different  and  incompatible 
attempts  on  the  passage.  1 .  He  says  that  "  the  passage  should  be  com- 
pared with  the  context.  Paul  had  just  said  that  Christ  would  be '  mag- 
nified in  his  body,  whether  by  life  or  by  death.'  When  he  then  adds, 
'  To  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is  gain/  he  may  signify  the  gain  to  the 
cause  of  Christ  by  the  martyrdom  which  in  his  prison  he  now  awaited." 
To  which  we  answer  (1)  The  passage  given  as  "the  context"  is  but 
one  subordinate  clause  of  the  context.  The  full  drift  of  the  context  is 
given  above.  (2)  The  Greek  does  not  fairly  admit  the  signification, 
"gain  to  the  cause  of  Christ."  The  position  of  e/iot  yup  {for  to  me)  is 
such,  that  it  stands  related  alike  to  both  parts  of  the  sentence ;  and  its 
special  emphasis  confines  the  gain  personally  to  the  apostle  —  for  to  me 
to  die  is  gain.  So,  very  clearly,  ver.  23.  But  Mr.  Hudson  abandons 
this  for  a  second  suggestion,  that,  2,  Paul  may  signify  "  his  own  greater 
reward  in  the  resurrection."  But  the  possibility  of  his  referring  merely 
to  the  distant  resurrection  is  cut  off  by  the  subsequent  alternative  dis- 
cussed already, — the  interference  of  the  joy  he  lo:iged  for  with  his  further 
stay  in  the  flesh.  Not  satisfied  here,  Mr.  Hudson  suggests,  3,  "  More- 
over, such  were  his  present  afflictions,  that  any  form  of  death  would  be  a 
welcome  release."  But  (1)  the  motive  which  Paul  actually  proceeds  to 
unfold  is  not  the  desire  to  escape  present  trial,  but  the  longing  for  Christ's 
presence ;  and  (2)  it  is  a  libel  on  Paul  to  attribute  to  him  as  his  govern- 
ing motive,  or  as  a  burning  desire,  the  idea  of  shrinking  away  from  the 
trials  of  life.  Precisely  the  contrary.  For  while  he  was  always  joyful 
in  the  thought  of  his  crown  (2  Tim.  iv.  8),  the  eternal  weight  of  glory 
(2  Cor.  iv.  17),  and  the  presence  of  Christ  (2  Cor.  v.  8),  yet  the  thought 
of  shrinking  away  from  his  trials  is  nowhere  to  be  found.  "  We  glory 
in  tribulations  "  (Rom.  v.  3).  "  None  of  these  things  move  me  "  (Acts 
xx.  24).  "I  take  pleasure  in  infirmities,  in  reproaches,  in  necessities, 
in  persecutions,  in  distresses,  for  Christ's  sake"  (2  Cor.  xii.  10).  Not 
choosing  to  rest  on  either  of  these  positions,  Mr.  Hudson  abandons 
them  for  a  fourth,  which  itself  splits  in  two  in  the  utterance.  4.  "  But 
there  are  some  reasons  for  supposing  that  the  phrase  here  rendered  '  to 


362  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

depart'  (elg  rd  uvalvacuj  may  signify  'to  return/  or  'the  release,'  with 
special  allusion  to  the  coming-back  of  the  dead  from  hades,  of  which  the 
early  Christians  made  so  much."  Without  following  this  writer  in 
all  the  weaknesses  of  his  subsequent  argument,*  we  may  say,  (1)  that 
this  attempt  to  refer  the  phrase  to  such  a  supposed  well-known  event  as 
"  the  release,"  is  equally  weak  as  disingenuous,  unless  it  can  be  shown 
(a)  that  such  event,  is  well  known  to  the  New  Testament  writers,  and  (b) 
that  this  term  is  sometimes  used  by  them  to  describe  it ;  for  neither  of 
which  can  one  particle  of  evidence  be  adduced.  (2)  The  writer  gives 
two  entirely  different  translations,  both  of  which  he  would  use  at  the  same 
time;  neither  of  which  will  help  him.  Of  these  translations,  (a)  if  we 
attempt  to  use  the  meaning  "  release,"  the  verb  uvalvaat  is  in  that  sense 
always  active,  requiring  an  object,  and  should  here  be  translated  "  having 
a  desire  for  releasing  "  some  one  else.  But  if  we  take  it  in  a  passive 
sense,  "a  desire  for  the  release,"  i.e.  being  released,  the  verb  should  be 
passive,  avaXv^nvai.  Furthermore  it  would  still  signify  death,  being 
released  from  this  life  ;  for  it  is  of  this  life  the  apostle  is  speaking,  not 
of  hades.  If  (b)  we  take  the  meaning  to  "return"  (which  is  undoubt- 
edly one  phase  of  departure  which  the  word  sometimes  though  not 
commonly  designates),  we  i-ender  no  aid  to  the  doctrine  of  unconscious- ' 
ness  at  death,  but  simply  make  the  apostle  assert  the  pre-existence  of 
the  soul  in  heaven  ;  inasmuch  as  he  is  speaking  only  of  two  states  or 
situations, —  being  in  the  flesh  and  being  with  Christ.  If  he  is  made  to 
call  his  departure  from  this  life  to  heaven  a  "  return,"  of  course  he  was 
in  heaven  before  he  came  into  the  flesh. 

Such  are  some  of  the  unsatisfied  and  incompatible  evasions  by  which 
it  is  attempted  to  break  the  plain  meaning  of  this  passage.  We  have 
been  willing  to  follow  them  somewhat  in  detail,  that  the  reader  may  see 
whether  this  is  or  is  not  handling  the  word  of  God  deceitfully. 

The  whole  case  is  simple  :  both  the  common  meaning  of  the  word,  its 
scriptural  usage,  and  the  clear  requisitions  of  the  context.  The  word 
translated  "  depart "  {uvaTivoai)  is  a  transitive  verb,  and  means  radically 
to  loose,  to  unloose,  l,*any  thing  connected,  tangled,  or  knotted  ;  hence 
to  unbind  fetters  or  free  a  captive  ;  2,  any  thing  bound  or  made  fast,  or 
fixed ;  hence  to  dissolve  or  decompose,  and  hence  also  (as  a  naval  or 
military  term)  to  loose  anchor,  or  break  up  camp,t  and  thus  very  com- 

*  E.g.  The  erroneous  assertion  that  the  Hebrew  ^irj  "  always  signifies  to 
return,"  the  attempt  to  magnify  a  manuscript  variation  in  the  Septuagint  of 
Josh.  xvii.  8,  above  the  received  and  settled  text. 

f  Like  the  Hebrew  350;,  to  pull  up  [tent-pins];  hence  to  depart  generally 
(and  the  English  break  up,  break  away,  cut  loose,  etc.). 


NOTES.  363 

monly  to  depart  (the  departure  may  or  may  not  be  a  "return  *) ;  3, 
something  difficult,  as  to  solve  a  problem.  And  the  derived  noun  uv u7mol{ 
in  like  manner  means  a  loosing;  1,  a  loosing  of  the  connected  parts  of  a 
whole,  decomposition,  dissection,  destruction ;  2,  a  breaking-up  or  depart- 
ure ;  3,  solution  of  a  problem  or  difficulty. 

In  classic  Greek,  the  meaning  "  departure  "  is  one  of  the  common 
meanings. 

In  the  New  Testament,  the  verb  and  noun  occur  but  three  times.  ( 1 ) 
In  2  Tim.  iv.  6,  where  it  most  clearly  means  departure :  "  I  am  now 
ready  to  be  offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  {avakvoiQ)  is  at 
hand  ;"  uttered  shortly  before  the  apostle's  decease.  (2)  In  Luke  xii. 
36,  where,  though  translated  "  return,"  it  apparently  means  simply  to 
"  depart  "  or  "  break  up"  from  the  wedding  (though  in  order  to  return, 
see  Robinson's  Lex.),  as  the  actual  return  is  expressed  by  the  words  im- 
mediately following,  "  that  when  he  cometh  and  knocketh,"  etc.  (3)  In 
the  present  passage,  where  it  stands  in  contrast  with  the  preceding  "  live 
in  the  flesh,"  and  the  following,  "  abide  in  the  flesh,"  and  immediately 
connected  with  the  phrase,  "and  be  with  the  Lord,"  and  means  as 
translated,  "  to  depart." 

The  Septuagint  furnishes  but  twelve  instances  occurring  in  the  Apoc- 
rypha (of  which  Mr.  Hudson  quotes  but  six),  and  among  these  "de- 
part" is  a  leading  meaning,  e.g.,  Judith  xiii.  1 ;  1  Esdras  vii.  3  (twice) ; 
Mac.  xii.  7.  In  several  other  instances,  the  same  meaning  is  appropri- 
ate, although,  as  the  departure  actually  was  a  return,  there  is  no  objec- 
tion to  using  that  word  ;  e.g.,  Tobit  ii.  9  ;  Wis.  ii.  1.  In  Mac.  viii.  25, 
it  reads  literally,  "  Pursuing  them  for  a  considerable  time,  they  broke  up 
[the  pursuit],  being  restrained  by  the  hour  ;  for  it  was  [the  day]  before 
the  Sabbath."  In  2  Mac.  ix.  1,  "  Antiochus  broke  up  [or  departed]  in 
a  disorderly  manner  from  Persia."  Ch.  xv.  28  :  "  And  having  come 
from  the  battle,  and  departing  [or  perhaps  dispersing]  with  joy,  they 
learned,"  etc.  In  three  remaining  passages,  the  meaning  is  different.  In 
Wis.  xvi.  14,  it  means  probably  to  release;*  in  Sir.  iii.  15  (in  the  pas- 
sive voice),  "  thy  sins  shall  heforgiven^iie,.  unloosed).  In  the  passage 
before  us,  the  connection  before  and  after  holds  us  inevitably  to  the 

*  In  Wis.  v.  12,  the  usage  is  peculiar,  where  we  have  not  the  active,  but  the 
passive  voice :  "  As  when  an  arrow  is  shot  at  a  mark,  the  air,  being  cut,  imme- 
diately (dg  cavrbv  aveXvdn)  is  let  loose  upon  itself,''  or  better,  u  is  dissolved 
into  itself.'-  To  translate  here  simply  "  returns,"  overlooks  the  passive  voice 
of  the  vert  and  the  poetic  force  of  the  expression.  These  are  all  the  instances 
of  the  Septuagint,  which  the  reader  can  examine  at  his  leisure.  They  show 
sufficiently  the  real  meaning  of  the  word. 


364  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

present  translation.  It  is  one  of  a  series  of  contrasted  phrases,  parallel 
to  and  explanatory  of  each  other.  It  is  (in  ver.  20)  "  life  "  or  "  death  ; " 
ver.  21,  "to  live  "  or  "  to  die ;  "  ver.  22,  "  to  live  in  the  flesh ;"  ver.  22, 
23,  the  strait  betwixt  the  two,  "  to  depart,  and  to  be  with  Christ,"  or  "  to 
abide  in  the  flesh ;  "  and  ver.  25,  the  assurance  that  "  I  shall  abide  and 
continue  with  you  all."  The  reader  of  the  original  will  also  observe  a 
connection  which  is  not  and  can  not  easily  be  given  in  the  translation. 
The  two  verbs  uvalvoat  and  elvai  are  both  gathered  under  one  article  so 
as  to  make  them  parts  of  the  same  transaction  ;  literally  "  having  a  de- 
sire for  the  [act  of]  departing  and  being  with  Christ." 

The  language  and  connection  abundantly  indicate  the  received  trans- 
lation, and  the  received  view  of  this  passage.  And  the  forced  and  con- 
tradictory explanations  of  those  who  impugn  it  speak  for  themselves. 


NOTE  C  — Page  223 

HADES. 

Many  unsupported  assertions  have  been  made  on  the  meaning  and 
uses  of  this  word  in  the  New  Testament.  A  sort  of  heathen  mythology 
has  been  forced  upon  the  sacred  writers.  Even  in  Robinson's  New  Testa- 
ment Lexicon,  hades  is  first  defined  according  to  the  Greek  mythology, 
and  the  writer  proceeds  :  "  The  Hebrew  sheol  (^i&EJ)  signified,  in  like 
manner,  the  under- world,  and  was  held  to  be  a  vast'  subterranean  palace, 
full  of  thickest  darkness,  where  dwelt  the  shades  of  the  dead ;  but  no 
distinction  of  place  is  indicated  in  the  sheol  of  the  Old  Testament  be- 
tween the  righteous  and  the  wicked.  For  the  Hebrew  ^i^a,  the  Sev- 
enty have  almost  everywhere  put  fi'cfyc ;  and,  in  accordance  with  this 
usage,  the  idea  of  sheol  is  found  among  the  later  Jews,  more  developed, 
and  assimilated  to  the  Greek  hades.  The  souls  of  the  righteous  and  the 
wicked  were  held  to  be  separated ;  the  former  inhabiting  the  region  of  the 
blessed,  the  inferior  paradise,  or  Eden  of  the  Rabbins ;  while  lower 
down  was  the  abyss  called  gehenna  or  tartarus,  in  which  the  souls  of  the 
wicked  are  in  torment.  In  the  New  Testament,  udqc  is  represented  as  a 
dreary  prison  with  gates  and  bars  ;  also  the  keys  of  hades,"  etc. 

The  reader  will  perceive  that  this  statement  is  shaped  mainly  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  views  of  heathen  and  Rabbins.  Common  as  it  has 
become,  we  believe  it  to  be  unwarranted  and  unscriptural.  The  gates 
and  keys  of  hades  are  no  more  to  be  taken  literally  than  the  "  keys  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven."  As  to  any  vast  subterranean  place,  the  com- 
mon abode  of  good  and  evil/' shades,"  or  partitioned  off  into  a  higher 


NOTES.  365 

and  lower  place,  paradise  and  gehenna,  —  the  interpretation  seems  to  us 
worthy  of  the  Rahhins  to  whom  it  refers  for  authority.  The  reader  will 
find  an  article  containing  some  good  suggestions  on  the  subject  in  the 
"  Bibliothcca  Sacra,"  vol.  xiii.  pp.  155,  seq.,  by  Prof.  N.  H.  Griffin. 

We  will  barely  indicate  what  seems  to  us  the  true  view.  The  etymol- 
ogy of  the  Hebrew  ^i&EJ  is  doubtful :  that  of  hades  (udrjc,  a  privative,  and 
Idelv,  the  unseen,  invisible)  corresponds  apparently  to  the  general  idea  in- 
dicated in  the  New  Testament ;  the  vague  notion,  not  uncommon  with 
us, of  the  invisible  world.  This  is  the  radical  notion  of  sheol  or  hades  in 
both  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New,  with  one  additional  aspect,  pres- 
ently to  be  indicated.  Still,  according  to  the  special  conception  con- 
nected with  it  in  the  speaker's  thought,  it  may  have  a  modifying  color, 
as  the  mere  state  of  the  dead,  or  even  the  grave,  as  the  land  of  silence 
to  us,  as  the  place  of  rest  for  the  suffering  good,  or,  especially,  of  terror 
to  the  evil-doers. 

Accordingly,  inasmuch  as  the  whole  race  are  sinners,  and  as  death, 
the  separation  of  soul  and  body,  is  the  fruit  of  sin ;  so  this  one  additional 
notion  seems  throughout  the  Bible  to  cling  to  hades,  the  invisible  world 
or  spirit-land,  —  that  it  is  a  place  of  terror  to  the  natural  man,  and  even 
to  the  regenerate  man,  except  as  that  terror  is  overcome  by  Christ.  It 
is  sometimes  personified  as  one  of  the  great  enemies  of  the  race,  and  of 
Christ's  ransomed  and  but  partly  sanctified  followers.  Here,  then,  we 
find  the  full  but  simple  Scripture  idea  of  sheol  and  hades :  it  is  the  state 
af  the  dead  or  the  invisible  world  in  general,  but  viewed  as  a  foe  or  object 
of  terror  to  man,  even  to  the  regenerate  man  partly  sanctified.  Though 
not  in  itself  designating  absolutely  any  thing  more  than  the  state  after 
death,  and  sometimes  even  looking  no  farther  than  the  grave,  its  color- 
ing is  that  of  aversion,  and  not  of  desire.  It  is  the  designation  of  a  re- 
gion of  dread.  Accordingly,  it  is  so  used  uniformly,  we  think,  in  the 
Old  Testament,  and  still  more  distinctly  in  the  New.  At  the  same  time, 
we  find,  as  we  might  expect,  a  much  greater  definiteness  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament notion ;  so  that,  as  Fairbairn  has  shown  ("  Hermeneutical  Man- 
ual," p.  292,  etc.,  Edinburgh  ed.),  the  sheol  of  the  older  Scriptures  is  not 
the  equivalent  of  the  later  hades. 

In  the  New  Testament,  with  whatever  varieties  of  usage,  hades  always 
denotes  that  which  is  an  object  of  dread ;  something  evil,  the  antithesis 
of  heaven,  the  enemy  of  Christ  and  his  kingdom,  the  terror  of  man,  and 
also  of  the  regenerate,  imperfect  believer ;  a  terror  overcome  only  by 
Christ.  Thus,  Matt.  xi.  23;  Luke  x.  15  :  "  Thou,  Capernaum,  which 
art  exalted  unto  heaven,  shalt  be  brought  down  to  hell  "  (hades).  Here 
it  is  the  opposite  of  heaven,  and  involves  a  terrific  threat.    Again,  Matt 


366  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

xvi.  18:  "On  this  rock,  I  will  build  my  church;  and  the  gates  of  hell 
shall  not  prevail  against  it."  Here  (apparently  as  the  gathering-place  of 
the  wicked)  it  sums  up  the  whole  host  of  the  enemies  of  Christ's  king- 
dom. In  the  passage  under  discussion  (Luke  xvi.  18),  it  is  the  place  of 
torment.  In  Acts  ii.  27,  31,  quoted  from  the  Old  Testament,  "  Thou 
wilt  not  leave  my  soul  in  hell"  {hades),  if  it  indicates  somewhat  more 
vaguely  the  state  of  the  dead,  it  is  still  as  an  antagonist  to  Christ  and  his 
work.  (Abandon,  or  give  over  to  hades,  is  the  form  of  the  Hebrew  origi- 
nal, Ps.  xvi.  10.)  In  1  Cor.  xv.  55,  "  O  death,  where  is  thy  sting?  O 
grave,  *  where  is  thy  victory  1  "  it  is  the  enemy  and  terror  of  fallen  man. 
In  Rev.  i.  18  :  "I  am  he  that  liveth,  and  was  dead;  and  behold  I  am 
alive  for  evermore,  amen,  and  have  the  keys  of  death  and  hell"  (hades) ; 
the  same  idea  of  victory  over  this  terror  to  his  children  is  somewhat 
clear.  In  Rev.  vi.  8,  where  death  rides  on  the  pale  horse,  and  hell  (hades) 
followed  with  him,  hades,  though  personified,  is  still  the  most  terrible  of 
foes.  And  finally,  in  the  passage  (Rev.  xx.  13,  14)  where  "death  and 
hell"  (hades)  delivered  up  the  dead  in  them,  and  then  "death  and  hell," 
and  "  whosoever  was  not  found  written  in  the  book  of  life,"  were  cast 
into  the  lake  of  fire,  no  difficulties  of  interpretation  can  hide  the  fact 
that  hades  is  personified  as  one  of  the  chief  foes  of  Christ's  kingdom. 
These  are  all  the  passages  in  the  New  Testament  in  which  hades  occurs, 
and  they  fully  sustain  our  position. 


NOTE  D.  — Page  241. 

DANIEL  XII.    2. 

The  method  of  Mr.  Hudson  with  this  passage  is  characteristic,  and 
deserves  a  moment's  attention  as  a  specimen  of  his  procedures.  It  will 
illustrate  his  way  of  marshaling  a  series  of  objections  on  which  he 
dares  not  insist ;  of  grasping  at  all  possible  stray  help,  and  of  straining 
Iris  authorities.     It  is  as  follows  :  — 

"  It  is  thought  by  good  critics  that  the  prophet  here  speaks  only  of 
the  resurrection  of  the  righteous,  called  the  '  first  resurrection  '  in  Rev. 
xx.  5 ;  and  that  the  passage  should  read,  '  these  [who  awake]  to  ever- 
lasting life,  and  those  [who  do  not  awake]  to  shame  and  everlasting  con- 
tempt.' This  would  agree  with  the  Syriac  version :  '  some  to  death,  and 
the  eternal  contempt  of  their  companions.' 

*  But  in  the  corrected  text  of  Lachmann  and  Teschendorf,  sustained  by 
most  of  the  older  manuscripts    "v5tj  is  here  displaced  by  ■QuvaTC. 


NOTES.  367 

*  Put  we  arc  willing  to  take  the  passage  as  making  no  distinction  be- 
tween the  first  and  the  second  resurrection.  We  need,  then, only  to  or- 
rect  the  frequent  dislocation  by  which  the  '  shame  '  as  well  as  the  '  eon- 
tempt  '  is  made  everlasting.  Though  even  on  this  we  need  not  insi 
for  the  word  '  shame '  can  not  refer  to  the  feelings  of  the  lost.  The  He- 
brew (Yl&O.I)  is  used  only  here  and  in  Isa.  lxvi.  24  (Eng.  'an  abhor- 
ring ')  where,  says  Dr.  Wintle,  it  denotes  '  a  kind  of  spectacle,  show,  or 
nausea,'  and  is  translated  '  nausea  '  by  Buxtorf  in  his  concordance.  The 
allusion  seems  to  be  to  the  putrefaction  of  death.  The  '  contempt/  if 
it  expresses  a  feeling  of  the  righteous,  is  farther  described  in  such  pas- 
sages as  Mai.  iv.  3  ;  Matt.  xiii.  40-43 ;  2  Pet.  ii.  9-12  ;  Ps.  xcii.  7  ;  on 
which  last  passage  Hengs  ten  berg  remarks  perhaps  too  carelessly,  '  The 
annihilation  of  the  wicked  comes  into  notice  as  the  basis  of  the  delivei*- 
ance  of  the  righteous,  which  is  the  proper  theme  of  the  psalm.'  " 

On  this  we  remark,  1.  Who  these  "good  critics"  are  Mr.  Hudson 
does  not  inform  us.  We  think  the  best  of  them  will  be  found  to  be 
Prof.  Bush ;  the  same  good  critic  who  learned  to  find  no  resurrection  of 
the  body  at  all  in  the  Bible. 

2.  The  attempted  reading  simply  (1 )  interpolates  something  in  the  pas- 
sage of  which  not  a  hint  is  found  in  the  original.  The  reader  will  see  that 
the  prophet  says  not  a  word  of  any  class  "  who  do  not  awake  :  "  he  only 
declares  that  many  shall  awake,  and  divides  the  awakened  into  two  classes; 
(2)  makes  the  passage  comprise  two  unfinished  clauses, — clauses  that  con- 
tain no  assertion,  thus  :  many  "  shall  awake ;  those  who  awake  to  ever- 
lasting life,  and  those  who  do  not  awake  to  shame  and  everlasting  con- 
tempt " —  what  of  them  ?  The  reader  will  perceive  that  nothing  is  as- 
serted of  them,  there  is  no  declaration,  unless  by  interpolating  more 
words,  such  as  "  are  ordained  unto,"  or  the  like;  so  as  to  read  "  those 
who  do  not  awake  [are  ordained  unto]  shame  and  everlasting  contempt." 
This  double  interpolation  is  certainly  a  laborious  way  of  evading  a  very 
straightforward  declaration. 

3.  The  Syriac  version  does  not  "  agree  "  with  this  procedure  ;  for  the 
Syriac  version  includes  both  classes  among  the  awakened,  as  the  reader 
will  see  by  careful  attention  even  to  the  quotation.  The  speciousness 
of  Mr.  Hudson's  statement  rests  wholly  on  the  reader's  understanding 
the  word  death  (interitum)  in  the  unwarranted  sense  of  annihilation. 

4.  It  is  hardly  safe  to  "insist"  that  the  shame  is  not,  as  well  as  the 
contempt,  everlasting.  "  Shame,"  no  doubt,  means  substantially  re- 
proach or  disgrace  (rather  than  the  feelings  of  the  lost).  Bat  the  strict 
translation  would  change  the  connecting  "and  "  into  "  to,"  —  "  some 
to  disgrace,  to  contempt  everlasting."  The  second  clause  is  thus  a  fuller 


8G8  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

unfolding  of  the  first,  and  no  violence  is  therefore  done  by  understand- 
ing the  passage  in  nearly  the  common  mode.  It  is  a  disgrace  or  shame, 
an  abhorrence,  which  is  everlasting. 

5.  Mr.  Hudson  seems  to  say  that  the  word  translated  "  contempt " 
(and  not  the  application  of  it  in  Isa.  lxvi.  24)  is  an  allusion  "  to  the  putre- 
faction of  death."  The  structure  of  his  sentences  justifies  and  requires 
that  mode  of  understanding  him.  But  the  reader  should  be  advised,  that 
the  word  contains  no  such  reference  whatever  :  it  means  by  general  con- 
sent, "  an  abhorrence,"  or  an  object  of  abhorrence. 

6.  It  is  a  worthy  climax  of  this  piece  of  exegetical  legerdemain  when 
Hengstenberg  is  cited  so  as  to  leave  the  impression  (not  removed  by  the 
phrase,  "perhaps  too  carelessly")  that  he  teaches  Mr.  Hudson's  doc- 
trine. We  think  no  man  will  venture  openly  to  claim  Hengstenberg  as 
an  annihilationist.  Undoubtedly  he  uses  the  word  "annihilation  "  (ver- 
nichtung)  in  a  popular  way,  as  we  use  it  in  reference  to  a  party  or  an 
army  thoroughly  routed  and  overwhelmed.  The  use  made  by  Mr.  Hud- 
son of  this  passage  is  a  good  illustration  of  the  methods  of  his  system. 


NOTE  E.  — Page  258. 

REV.  XX.  10. 

The  author  of  "  Debt  and  Grace,"  in  his  subsequent  work,  "  Christ 
our  Life,"  *  finds  it  necessary  to  make  a  more  earnest  attempt  on  Rev. 
xx.  10.  He  opens  with  the  cool  announcement :  "  We  think  the  argu- 
ment for  the  eternal  misery  of  all  finally  impenitent  men  and  women  is 
reduced  to  this  single  passage."  The  reader,  of  course,  is  prepared  to  find 
that  a  writer  who  concedes  to  his  adversaries  only  such  a  standing-point 
as  this  solitary  text  will  easily  see  that  this  text  also  teaches  an  "  utter 
and  irreparable  destruction,"  i.e.  annihilation.  In  the  outset,  however, 
he  admits  that  the  passage  is  against  him.  "  Let  us  inquire  whether  the 
passage  shall  annul  all  the  apparent  reasons  we  have  discovered  for  im- 
mortality through  Christ  alone,  and,  seated  on  a  throne  of  symbols  shall 
overrule  the  obvious  sense  of  hundreds  of  other  passages  ;  or  may  it  be 
fairly  interpreted  in  accordance  with  those  reasons  and  that  obvious 
sense  1 "  i.e.  with  the  sense  which  has  been  exposed  and  refuted  in  the 
preceding  pages  of  this  volume. 

The  process  consists  in  turning  away  from  that  portion  of  the  verse 
which  is  perfectly  full  and  explicit,  and  endeavoring  to  put  such  a  con- 

*  P.  145,  seq. 


NOTES.  369 

« traction  on  certain  other  more  indefinite  phrases  as  may  break  down 
the  meaning  of  the  more  express.  We  can  not  follow  all  the  windings 
of  the  effort.  Mr.  Hudson,  as  usual,  is  too  wary  to  trust  to  the  indi- 
vidual strength  of  his  arguments  ;  and  he  accumulates  a  large  number 
of  suggestions,  such  as  they  are,  some  of  which,  as  usual,  he  would  be 
willing  to  waive.  This  constitutes  one  chief  difficulty  of  following  or 
answering  him. 

1.  His  first  point  is,  that  the  "  lake  of  fire  and  brimstone  "  must  of  ne- 
cessity mean  "a  proper  destruction"  [annihilation],  notwithstanding 
the  explicit  statement  of  the  verse  itself  that  it  is  the  place  of  torment 
for  ever  and  ever.  He  even  appeals  to  Rev.  xiv.  10,  as  an  instance  of 
"  fire  and  brimstone"  denoting  "  destruction,"  in  defiance  of  the  plain- 
est assertion  of  the  verse,  "  Pie  shall  be  tormented  with  fire  and  brim- 
stone," and  the  explanation  following,  "  and  the  smoke  of  their  torment 
ascendeth  up  for  ever  and  ever,  and  they  have  no  rest  day  nor  night."  He 
also  appeals  to  Rev.  xxi.  8,  "  Shall  have  their  part  in  the  lake  which 
burnetii  with  fire  and  brimstone,"  as  though  it  were  for  him  rather  than 
against  him.  Paying  no  attention  to  the  statement  (Rev.  xix.  20),  "  these 
both  were  cast  alive  into  a  lake  of  fire  burning  with  brimstone,"  and  the 
most  positive  designation  of  the  flames  of  hell  (Luke  xvi.  24)  as  the 
means  of  protracted  torment,  not  of  extinction,  he  innocently  asks, 
"  Why  should  the  same  terms  be  used  just  once  denoting  torment  with- 
out destruction  ?  " 

2.  He  says  that  "  we  have  just  seen  that  four  symbolical  powers  are 
cast  into  the  same  lake  of  fire,  and  come  to  an  end.  Two  of  them  are 
by  name  associated  with  Satan.  All  that  is  said  of  him  is  said  of  them." 
Hence  he  must  come  to  an  end.  We  ansAver,  1.  The  fact  is  not  con- 
ceded. The  long  array  of  quotations  adduced  by  Mr.  Hudson  in  sup- 
port of  his  view  is  vitiated  by  his  inveterate  habit  of  interpreting  "  de- 
struction," etc.,  in  such  quotations  in  the  sense  of  annihilation  ;  also  by 
his  artfully  assuming  that  the  "annihilation  of  their  power"  (quoted 
from  S.  Scott  and  DeWette),  and  their  "  eternal  removal  "  (Ddsterdieck), 
is  the  annihilation  of  them.  Some  of  the  parties  quoted,  however,  agree 
with  him.  But  the  point  is  not  conceded  by  us.  See  Note  0.  2.  If  a 
symbolical  power,  an  abstraction,  itself  dissolves,  passes  away,  when  its 
function  is  finally  arrested,  how  lame  the  inference  that  an  actual  con- 
crete existence  thus  ceases  to  be  !  and,  furthermore,  when  we  are  defi- 
nitely informed  that  his  confinement  in  the  place  of  punishment  (the 
abyss)  leaves  his  activity  unimpaired. 

3.  It  is  positively  alleged  that  Satan  is  not  immortal.  Two  texts 
are  cited  :  "  The  seed  of  the  woman  shall "  crush  "  the  serpent's  head," 

24 


370  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

where  the  same  word  is  also  used  of  the  woman's  heel  (Gen.  iii.  15),  the 
same  Hebrew  word  which  the  living  Job  employs  where  he  says,  "  He 
breaketh  me  with  a  tempest"  (Job.  ix.  17) ;  and  the  wholly  irrelevant 
passage  in  Dan.  vii.  11.  In  this  same  connection,  the  author  of  "  Christ 
our  Life,"  somewhat  directly  contradicts  the  author  of  "Debt  and 
Grace."  The  latter  had  said  (p.  215),  "  the  words  in  Heb.  ii.  14,  and  1 
John  iii.  8,  express  indeed  the  dispossession  of  Satan  rather  than  his 
final  destruction.  The  former  says  (p.  146),  "  The  dispossession  of  the 
adversary,  and  the  destroying  of  his  works  (Heb.  ii.  14;  1  John  iii.  8), 
indicate  any  thing  rather  than  the  perpetuity  of  that  which  Satanic  malice 
would  most  desire." 

4.  The  author  endeavors  to  connect  with  this  passage  verse  9  of  the 
same  chapter,  where  a  "  large  class  of  the  ungodly  [on  earth]  is  said  to 
be  devoured  by  fire  coming  down  out  of  heaven."  Here  Prof.  Stuart  is 
quoted  as  saying  that  it  "  denotes  utter  excision."  Now  we  will  pause 
just  to  ask,  whether,  by  this  citation,  Mr.  Hudson  means  to  make  the 
impression  that  Stuart  held  that  the  Bible  teaches  the  annihilation  of 
any  portion  of  the  wicked  1  If  not,  why  does  he  quote  him  in  this  con- 
nection 1  If  he  does,  can  he  be  ignorant  that  he  is  making  the  grossest 
of  misrepresentations  ?  After  a  similar  citation  from  Daubuz  ("  uttterly 
destroyed  them  "),  and  a  similarly  ambiguous  one  from  the  Targum  ot 
Jonathan,  through  Dr.  Gill,  Mr.  Hudson  comes  to  the  conclusion,  that 
"  the  whole  force  of  the  passage,  compared  with  ver.  14, 15,  goes  to  involve 
Satan  in  the  same  doom,"  i.e.  annihilation.  This  is  what  it  is  to  be 
"  fairly  interpreted  !  " 

Thus  far,  however,  the  process  is  like  that  of  a  skillful  juggler,  who, 
by  side  feints,  diverts  attention  from  the  real  fact.  It  has  consisted  in 
keeping  out  of  sight  the  actual  statement  in  question,  "tormented  day 
and  night  for  ever  and  ever."  Now  it  becomes  necessary  to  notice  it. 
Accordingly,  "not  as  his  own  view,  but  to  meet  the  views  of  others," 
Mr.  Hudson  suggests,  that  the  whole  transaction  in  question  may  not 
be  a  part  of  the  final  judgment,  but  may  so  long  precede  it,  that  the 
phrase,  "  for  ever  and  ever  "  may  apply  to  the  interval !  Not  satisfied 
with  this,  he  tries  again. 

5.  "  If  the  phrase  [for  ever  and  ever]  were  insisted  on  as  denoting  an 
absolute  eternity,  it  might  denote  eternity  of  effect."  No,  it  can  not ; 
it  expressly  describes  eternity  of  continuous  process  —  "  tormented  day 
and  night  for  ever  and  ever."    Still  unsatisfied,  he  tries  yet  once  more. 

6.  "  But  if  the  phrase  '  day  and  night '  be  taken  to  denote  the  contin- 
uation of  torment,  and  this  absolutely  for  ever  and  ever,  here  are  two 
things  assumed  which  cannot  be  proven.     1.  That  the  'ages  of  ages  ' 


NOTES.  371 

must  be  God's  own  future  eternity.    2.  That  the  phrase  '  day  and  night ' 
does  not  limit  the  import  of  the  following  phrase." 

To  which  we  answer  1.  (a)  The  man  who  denies  that  the  strongest 
expression  for  absolute  eternity  has  its  legitimate  meaning,  is  the  man 
who  must  make  good  his  own  assertion,  (b)  The  phrase  is  the  phrase 
which  in  this  same  book  of  Revelation  is  used  ten  times  of  God's  own 
[and  Christ's]  future  eternity,  glory  and  praise  (i.  6,  18;  iv.  9,  10;  v. 
13,  14  ;  vii.  12 ;  x.  6  ;  xi.  15 ;  xv.  7),  —  once  of  the  future  glory  of  the 
righteous  (xxii.  5),  and  three  other  times  only  (of  which  this  is  on<j)  ; 
and  in  each  of  those  three  remaining  cases  it  is  used  of  the  punishment 
of  transgressors  (xiv.  11;  xix.  3;  xx.  10).  It  requires,  therefore,  a 
good  degree  of  hardihood  to  deny,  that,  in  the  present  instance,  the  phrase 
denotes  an  absolute  eternity.  2.  That  the  phrase  "  day  and  night," 
while  it  does  "qualify,"  does  not  "limit  "  the  following  phrase,  is  evi- 
dent (a)  from  the  common  meaning  of  the  phrase  in  the  Scriptures, 
which  is  incessantly  or  constantly,  as  already  shown  page  256,  and  as  ap- 
pears xii.  10  ;  and  (b)  from  the  fact,  that,  in  this  book  of  Revelation,  the 
same  phrase  is  applied  to  the  worship  of  heaven  (iv.  8.) 

Apparently  aware  that  these  positions  of  his  are  untenable,  Mr.  Hud- 
son resorts  to  the  usual  course  of  seeming  to  waive  them  for  a  final  at- 
tempt to  break  down  the  settled,  constant  meaning  of  the  word  "  tor- 
ment" (8aoavi&).  As  the  question  is  vital  to  him,  and  a  failure  here 
is  total,  it  may  be  well  to  give  his  argument  in  full.  » 

"  Yet  even  granting  these  assumptions  [in  regard  to  the  meaning  of 
'  for  ever  and  ever  ']  the  dramatic  use  of  the  word  '  torment,'  specially 
suitable  to  the  symbolic  character  of  the  book,  is  too  well  supported  by 
other  passages  to  allow  its  literal  sense  against  all  other  Scripture.  See 
Job  x.  21,  22,  as  cited  above*  and  Ezek.  xxxii.  24,  25,  30,  where,  in  the 
Septuagint,  this  very  word  (3aoavoc  is  applied  to  the  state  of  death.  So 
in  Wis.  iii.  1  :  '  The  souls  of  the  just  are  in  the  hands  of  God,  and  tor- 
ment may  not  touch  them ; '  where  the  context  shows  that  the  •  torment' 
is  death.  And  Ecclus.  xxi.  10, 11  :  '  The  congregation  of  sinners  is  like 
tow  heaped  together,  and  the  end  of  them  is  a  flame  of  fire.  The  way 
of  sinners  is  made  plain  with  stones  ;  and  in  their  end  is  hell  and  dark- 
ness and  pains.'     See  also  the  extended  drama  in  Isa.  xiv.  9-20."  * 

Now  let  the  reader  turn  back  from  this  chaos,  and  ask  what  is  the 
simple  point  at  issue.  This  :  Is  the  "  word  '  torment'  "  ((3aoavi&)  and 
its  correlates  used  in  Scripture  to  denote  a  non-existent  and  unconscious 
condition ;  so  that  to  be  "  tormented  for  ever  and  ever  "  can  properly  or 

*  Christ  our  Life,  p.  148. 


372  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

fairly  mean  to  be  deprived  of  all  existence  and  feeling  for  ever  and 
ever? 

Let  the  reader  also  notice  two  preliminary  points  of  confusion  (to  use 
a  mild  term)  introduced  by  the  author.  1.  He  speaks  of  the  "  dramatic 
use  of  the  word  'torment/"  as  the  antithesis  to  "the  literal  sense." 
There  is  no  such  use  of  a  word,  except  of  certain  terms  like  stage,  act, 
scene,  employed  sometimes  to  designate  certain  matters  connected  with 
the  drama,  and  thus, having  a  dramatic  use.  No  man  will  claim  "  tor- 
^ment "  as  being  one  of  these  terms.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  dramatic 
composition, — a  composition,  poem,  or  play  "  accommodated  to  action :  " 
to  speak  of  a  dramatic  use  of  a  word,  except  as  above  indicated,  is  to 
talk  nonsense.  The  question  is,  has  a  word  its  primary  or  secondary, 
its  literal  or  figurative  Cor  pregnant),  its  ordinary  or  an  extraordinary 
sense:  in  other  words,  does  "torment"  mean  torment,  or  does  it 
mean  something  else  ?  2.  The  author  also  says  that  this  "  dramatic 
use  of  the  word  '  torment  is  too  well  supported  by  other  passages  to 
allow  its  literal  sense  against  all  other  Scripture."  Against  all  other 
Scripture  !  What  is  it  that  all  other  Scripture  proves,  —  the  "  dramatic 
use  of  this  word,"  or  in  general  the  unconscious  state  of  the  wicked  af- 
ter death  %  Probably  the  latter  ;  but,  in  either  case,  the  assumption  is 
worthy  of  attention. 

Now  let  us  see  what  foundation  Mr.  Hudson  finds  in  Scripture  for 
his  deniaj  of  the  established  meaning  of  the  word  "  torment "  (j3aaavl^cj 
and  its  derivatives).  1.  He  docs  not  venture  to  cite  a  passage  from  the 
New  Testament,  although  the  verb  (i3aeavi&,  torment)  occurs  eleven 
times  besides  the  present  passage;  the  noun  (puoavog,  torment),  three 
times ;  another  derivative  noun  [jSaoavLOfiog,  torment  or  tormenting),  five 
times ;  and  the  word  "  tormentor"  {fiaoaviarriq)  once.  The  NewTestament 
usage,  which  is  sufficiently  abundant,  gives  him  not  a  shadow  of  sup- 
port. 2.  In  default  of  any  aid  from  the  New  Testament,  the  author 
turns  to  the  Septuagint  version  of  the  Old  Testament  and  Apocrypha 
(completed  two  or  three  hundred  years  previously). 

Mr.  Hudson  makes  a  show  of  citing  four  passages  (two  of  them 
from  the  Apocrypha)  to  invalidate  the  established  and  received  meaning 
of  (Suoavog,  "  torment."  Only  two  of  these  passages  cited,  however,  con- 
tain the  word.  Job  x.  21,  22,  docs  not  contain  it  in  any  form  ;  neither 
does  Ecclesiasticus  xxi.  10,  11.  According  to  the  common  edition  of 
the  Septuagint*  and  King  James's  version,  the  close  of  verse  10  is  as 
follows  :  "At  the  end  thereof  [of  the  way]  is  the  pi:  of  hell."  The  text 
as  given  by  Mr.  Hudson,  however,  would  not  even  indicate  a  different 

*  Van  Ess  :  Loipsic,  1855. 


NOTES.  373 

* 

meaning  of  the  word  "  torment,"  —  "  In  their  end  is  hell,  darkness,  and 
pains."  The  citations,  then,  are  reduced  to  two  passages.  One  of 
these  occurs  Ezek.  xxxii.  24  (repeated  in  ver.  25,  30),  where  the  Septu- 
agint  differs  from  our  version,  reading  (instead  of  "  They  have  borne 
their  shame  with  them  that  go  down  to  the  pit"),  "  They  received  their 
'  torment/  or  suffering  (fSdaavov)  with  them  that  go  down  to  the  pit." 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  word  was  employed  by  the  Septu- 
agint  translators  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  suffering  or  injury,  as  the  He- 
brew verb  (S;_3  from  which  the  noun  ^^  shame)  sometimes  bears 
the  general  sense  of  injure,  either  in  word  or  deed,  like  the  Arabic  word 
of  the  same  form,  which  means  to  wound.  Instead  of  Mr.  Hudson's 
statement,  that  here  the  word  j3aoavoc  is  applied  to  "  the  state  of  death," 
the  only  assertion  which  the  text  or  context  warrants  is,  that  it  is  ap- 
plied to  the  experience  of  the  dead  or  the  dying ;  and  there  is  no  reason 
whatever  in  the  case  to  press  the  word  aside  from  its  usual  meaning,  as 
intended  by  the  Septuagint  translators,  of  suffering.  The  second  and 
remaining  instance  cited  is  equally  futile  :  "  Wis.  iii.  1,  '  The  souls  of 
the  just  are  in  the  hand  of  God,  and  torment  may  not  touch  them  ; ' 
where  the  context  shows  that  the  torment  is  death."  The  context 
shows  no  such  thing.  It  clearly  means  great  suffering  or  "  misery,"  in 
opposition  to  the  actual  happiness  of  the  blessed,  as  the  reader  may  see  by 
reading  the  next  few  verses  for  himself:  2.  "In  the  sight  of  the  unwise 
they  seemed  to  die,  and  their  departure  is  taken  for  misery,"  3.  "And 
their  going  from  us  to  be  utter  destruction ;  but  they  are  in  peace."  4.  "  For 
though  they  be  punished  in  the  sight  of  men  [a  seeming  suffering],  yet  is 
their  hope  full  of  immortality."  5.  "  And,  having  been  a  little  chastised, 
they  shall  be  greatly  rewarded."  8.  "  They  shall  judge  the  nations,  and 
have  dominion  over  the  people ;  and  their  Lord  shall  reign  forever,"  etc. 
Mr.  Hudson  thus  cites  two  cases  to  disprove  the  established  meaning 
of  fiuaavoe,  which  both  fail  him.  If  he  had  been  more  successful  in 
finding  isolated  instances  of  a  diverse  meaning,  how  could  it  affect  the 
meaning  of  the  word  in  an  instance  where  a  continuous  and  protracted 
process  is  so  clearly  indicated  1  —  "  tormented  day  and  night  for  ever  and 
ever."  What  methods  will  a  Universalist  and  an  annihilationist  not 
resort  to  ? 


374  LIFE   AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 


NOTE  F.—  Page  288. 


UNQUENCHABLE     FIEE. 


Blain,  Hastings,  and  Hudson  endeavor  to  derive  much  help  from  the 
passage  in  Eusebius  containing  the  phrase  nvpl  aoftecTG).  In  his  Eccle- 
siastical History,  book  vi.  chap.  41,  there  occur  the  following  sentences 
(Cruse's  Translation) :  "  Of  these,  the  one  immediately  denied  ;  but  the 
other,  named  Cronion,  surnamed  Eunus,  and  the  aged  Julian  himself, 
having  confessed  the  Lord,  were  carried  on  camels  throughout  the  whole 
city,  a  very  large  one  you  know ;  and  in  this  elevation  were  scourged, 
and  finally  consumed  in  an  immense  fire  (irvpl  dcr/Jeimj),  surrounded  by 
the  thronging  crowds  of  spectators.  .  .  .  After  these,  Epimachus  and 
Alexander,  who  had  continued  for  a  long  time  in  prison,  enduring  in- 
numerable sufferings  from  the  scourges  and  scrapers,  were  also  destroyed 
in  an  immense  fire,  irvpl  ao(3eoTGi." 

These  three  writers  make  very  great  account  of  this  case,  all  of  them 
committing  the  mistake  of  ascribing  to  Eusebius  a  term  which  he  only 
quotes  frompionysius,  bishop  of  Alexandria.  Says  Mr.  Hudson,  "  How 
can  our  opponents  hope  for  our  conviction  in  this  matter  while  they  of 
fer  no  explanation  of  Eusebius's  use  of  the  phrase  in  question,  and  do 
not  even  notice  it  1  Thus  not  only  Mr.  Landis,  but  Prof.  Hovey,  who 
argues  from  the  passage  (Mark  ix.  42,  etc.),  Dr.  Post,  Dr.  Long,  Prof. 
Barrows.  Are  not  these  writers  aware  of  the  passage  in  Eusebius  ? 
Let  them  show  that  he  used  the  passage  ignorantly  or  improperly,  and 
we  shall  be  so  far  better  instructed.  Do  the  words  of  Eusebius  show  a 
usus  loqumdi,  or  do  they  not  ?  " 

The  answer  is  very  easy.  The  words  of  Dionysius  do  not  show  a 
usus  (oquendi.  The  simple  fact  which  appears  throughout  these  qixota- 
tions  from  Dionysius  is,  that  he  had  a  habit  of  making  very  free  use  of 
Scripture  phraseology,  both  by  direct  quotation  and  by  allusion ;  some- 
times very  "  improperly."  His  adoption  of  Scripture  phraseology  is 
more  abudant  than  his  numerous  direct  citations,  and  often  is  strained 
to  meet  the  case. 

To  show  his  frequent  imitations  of  Scripture  phraseology  wculd  re- 
quire &  careful  examination  of  the  Greek  original.  As  instances,  we 
find  in  a  few  lines  (on  page  245,  Schwegler's  edition),  the  phrases 
tnredwue  TOTTV£Vfj,a,  ufxifnrTug^Av^rj  (be  forgiven),  ('nroAvaaTe  (absolve)  ;  (on 
page  249),  dvarcavaafievov  (deceased),  uyaAAiuvTai,  tyLAadeAfyia,  do^d^ovTec, 
tcad'  VTrep(3oA7jv.  In  the  opening  of  his  narrative,  we  meet  the  apostolic 
phrase,  "  I  speak  before  God,  and  he  knows  I  lie  not ;  "  and  in  the  imme- 
diate sequel,  we  are  reminded  of  the  Scripture  by  such  phrases  as  the 


NOTES.  375 

following,  many  of  them  quite  noticeable  :  ava&TTjciv,  bdoiroif/aavTor,  erpe 
tov  oIkov  eprjiiov  (Matt,  xxiii.  38),  olnovo/iiac,  ya/iovg  (in  the  plural), 
eTzecTT/aav  (came  suddenly  upon),  oldevb  -&ebg  (2  Cor.  xi.  12,  31),  yv/xvbg 
ev  tu  Tiivui  sodr/fiari  (Mark  xiv.  51),  noivuvoi  fiov  ml  fieroxoi,  dcioidcupo- 
vlav,  dpTjoneiav,  incTrjv  yvvalna,  (3de?ivTrofcevTjv,  b(j.o3v(xadbv,  ug  h  dwarbv 
anavbaXiaai  ical  rovg  e/c/le/cTcwc,  dvaub'kijg  G0)-&7jaovTai,  deo/i&v  nal  tyvXanrig 
(Heb.  xi.  36,  etc.). 

Clear  instances  of  his  misapplication  or  strained  use  of  Scripture 
phraseology  are  the  following  :  When  the  persecuting  officer  Frumen- 
tarius  simply  searches  for  him  in  the  wrong  places,  Dionysius  says,  "  He 
was  smitten  with  blindness,  not  being  able  to  find  the  house  ;  for  he  could 
not  believe  that  I  would  remain  at  home  when  persecuted." — Book  vi. 
chapter  40.  He  justifies  himself  for  adhering  to  certain  decisions  of 
previous  bishops  concerning  heretics,  by  quoting  "for  thou  shalt  not 
remove,  as  it  is  said,  the  landmarks  of  thy  neighbor,  which  thy  fathers 
have  placed." — Book  vii.  chapter  7.  See  his  exaggerated  use  of  Scrip- 
ture allusions  in  his  description  of  the  state  of  things  during  a  sedi- 
tion at  Alexandria :  "  It  would  be  more  easy  for  any  one,  I  would  not 
say  to  go  beyond  the  limits  of  the  province,  but  even  to  travel  from 
east  to  west,  than  to  go  from  Alexandria  to  Alexandria.  For  the 
very  heart  of  the  city  is  more  desolate  and  impassable  than  that  vast 
and  trackless  desert  which  the  Israelites  traversed  in  two  generations ; 
and  our  smooth  and  tranquil  harbors  have  become  like  that  sea  which 
opened  and  arose  like  walls  on  both  sides,  enabled  them  to  drive  through, 
and  in  whose  highway  the  Egyptians  were  overwhelmed.  For  often 
they  appear  like  the  Red  Sea  from  the  frequent  slaughters  committed  in 
them  ;  but  the  river  which  washes  the  city  has  sometimes  appeared  more 
dry  than  the  parched  desert,  and  more  exhausting  than  that  in  which 
Israel  was  so  overcome  with  thirst  on  their  journey,  that  they  exclaimed 
against  Moses,  and  the  water  flowed  for  them  from  the  broken  rock,  by 
the  power  of  Him  who  alone  doeth  wondrous  works.  Sometimes,  also, 
it  has  so  overflowed,  that  it  has  inundated  all  the  country  round  ;  the 
roads  and  fields  seeming  to  threaten  that  flood  of  waters  which  hap- 
pened in  the  days  of  Noah.  It  also  flows  always  polluted  with  blood 
and  slaughter,  and  the  constant  drowning  of  men,  such  as  it  formerly 
was  when,  before  Pharaoh,  it  was  changed  into  blood  and  putrid  mat- 
ter."—  Book  vii.  chap.  21.  Again,  in  the  next  chapter  (22),  in  describ- 
ing a  pestilence  which  followed  the  sedition,  he  writes  :  "For  as  it  is 
written  respecting  the  first-born  of  Egypt,  thus  now  also  a  great  lamen- 
tation has  arisen ;  for  there  is  not  a  house  in  which  there  is  not  one 
dead." 


376  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

.  Surely,  a  writer  who  uses  Scripture  in  this  loose  way  is  but  a  poor 
reliance  to  prove  the  meaning  of  a  Scripture  phrase  as  against  the  Scrip- 
ture usage  itself.  Such  an  appeal  only  betrays  the  weakness  of  the 
cause.     Dionysius  simply  misuses  the  Scripture  phrase. 

Mr.  Hudson  is  equally  unfortunate  in  some  of  his  other  references, 
which  he  would  seem  not  to  have  examined  personally.  He  refers  us 
in  both  his  books  to  the  phrase  aa(3earTj  0/lo£,  as  found  in  the  Iliad  xiii. 
169,  564.  We  do  not  find  it  in  either  passage ;  though  we  find  the 
word  uofieoTTj  in  the  first,  but  not  in  the  second.  The  phrase  does  oc- 
cur in  xvii.  89,  where  Hector,  darting  about  in  his  resplendent  armor,  is 
said  to  be  "  like  the  inextinguishable  flame  of  Vulcan,"  —  the  flames 
which  the  Vulcan  ( Hephestus)  of  the  mythology  keeps  perpetually  burn- 
ing beneath  Mount  Etna.  It  is  also  found  in  xvi.  123,  and  means 
strictly  "  inextinguishable  flame  ;  "  the  fire  being  personified  as  a  power 
that  is  never  wearied  out  like  fighting  warriors  :  "  They  cast  tireless 
fire  into  the  swift  ship,  its  inextinguishable  flame  immediately  pours 
along,"  etc.  It  would  not  have  been  to  the  purpose  of  Mr.  Hudson  to 
state  the  fact,  that  the  word  asbestos  occurs  quite  often  in  the  Iliad  and 
Odyssey,  and  that  the  only  meanings  assigned  to  it  in  Crusius'  Homeric 
Lexicon  are  "  inextinguishable,"  "  incessant,"  "  unintermitted,"  "  end- 
less." 

Again  :  he  refers  to  Philo,  i.  389  and  ii.  254.  Neither  passage  helps 
him  :  one  of  them  is  as  strongly  against  him  as  language  can  be.  It 
reads  thus  :  "  The  law  says,  '  A  fire  shall  be  kept  burning  on  the  altar 
for  ever  unextinguished,  irvp  did.  iravrbQ  ua(3eoTov  ;  with  great  reason  and 
propriety,  I  think ;  for  since  the  graces  of  God  are  everlasting  and  un- 
ceasing and  uninterrupted,  which  we  now  enjoy  day  and  night,  and  since 
the  symbol  of  gratitude  is  the  sacred  flame,  it  is  fitting  that  it  should  be 
kindled,  and  that  it  should  remain  unextinguished  for  ever,  use  Scr/feoTOf  " 
(ii.  254).  The  other  passage  (i.  389)  contains  only  the  word  uojSearog 
in  the  hyperbolical  and  paradoxical  statement,  that  the  artificer  {drjfaovp- 
yog)  of  pleasure  "  takes  the  most  shameful  pains  through  life  to  corrupt 
the  incorruptible,  and  to  extinguish  the  remaining  inextinguishable 
lights  of  nature."  Here  the  paradox  is  evident ;  and  the  same  petty 
principle  that  would  take  away  from  uo[3eora  its  meaning  of  "  inextin- 
guishable" would  take  from  u<p&apTa  its  meaning  "incorruptible." 

A  passage  from  Cicero  is  given  as  parallel,  containing  the  phrase 
ignis  ceternus,  which  means  strictly  the  "  perpetual  fire."  Cicero  says 
(pro  Fonteio,  c.  17),  "  Take  heed  lest  that  perpetual  fire  kept  by  the 
nightly  toils  and  vigils  of  Fonteia  be  said  to  be  extinguished  by  the 
tears  of  your  priestess." 


NOTES.  377 

The  Anthology  is  quoted  :  "  A  fire  is  soon  put  out ;  but  a  woman  is 
an  inextinguishable  fire"  —  where  the  words  have  their  meaning  as 
usual,  only  there  is  an  extravagance  in  the  declaration.  It  is  the  hyper- 
bolic way  of  putting  it,  as  Scott,  on  the  other  hand,  calls  woman  "  a 
ministering  angel-" 

Has  Mr.  Hudson  ever  heard  of  the  "  fallacy  of  references  "  1  To 
what  purpose  are  citations  so  irrelevant  ?  And,  supposing  there  can  be 
found  occasional  instances  of  improper  or  strained  use  of  the  word 
aoBeoTog,  what  force  have  they  against  its  proper  and  stated  meaning, 
and  that,  too,  in  passages  where  the  reiteration  and  the  connection  prove 
that  it  is  deliberately  and  thoughtfully  employed  ? 

We  have  been  willing  to  follow  the  futile  efforts  of  this  writer  thus 
far.  We  will  only  add,  that  a  single  passage  of  Hippolytus,  who  lived  a 
hundred  years  earlier  than  Eusebius,  being  in  public  life  before  the  close 
of  the  second  century,  most  decisively  settles  the  meaning  of  irvp  da(3eorog, 
as  well  as  some  related  points.  In  speaking  of  the  Pharisees,  Hippoly- 
tus says  (book  ix.  chap.  28),  "  These  also  hold  the  resurrection  of  the 
flesh,  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  a  judgment  to  come,  and  a  conflagra- 
tion; and  that  the  just  will  be  incorruptible  (cMpdaprovc) ,  but  the  unjust 
will  be  punished  for  ever  in  unquenchable  fire  (udinovg  6e  elaael  Kolao- 
■&r)oeG-&aL  kv  Tcvpl  uofieoTu) ."  Language  could  not  be  more  explicit  if 
written  on  purpose  to  cut  off  all  cavil. 


NOTE  G.  —  Page  290. 

THE   MEANING   OP   KolaOlC. 

The  verb  KoXafa,  and  the  derivative  noun  KoXaaig,  when  applied  to  the 
treatment  of  offenders,  convey  the  broad  but  simple  notion  of  punish- 
ment, or  the  infliction  of  harm  and  suffering,  in  whatever  way,  upon 
body  or  mind,  by  blows,  words,  or  outward  condition.  This  is  the  sig- 
nification which  a  careful  analysis  of  the  classic  and  the  Alexandrian 
Greek  alike  sustains. 

The  word  is  said  by  lexicographers  to  have  designated  at  first  a  prun- 
ing of  trees,  —  examples  being  cited  only  from  Theophrastus.  (So 
also,  pain  and  punish,  according  to  them,  came  through  the  Latin  from 
the  Greek  noivn,  quit-money ;  and  vengeance  from  vindico,  vim-dico,  to  as- 
sert a  claim  in  law). 

From  this  primitive  meaning,  some  annihilationists  have  endeavored 
to  draw  the  signification  "  cutting-ofF,"  "  excision,"  that  is,  annihila- 
tion.    Two  difficulties  lie  in  the  way  ;  ( 1 )  In  no  instance  does  the  word 


378  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

seem  to  have  acquired  that  meaning  ;  (2)  it  could  not  easily  acquire  it, 
since,  as  Mr.  Hudson  well  remarks,  "in  pruning,  the  tree  is  not  'cut 
off'/  only  the  branches." 

The  meaning  of  restraint  is  alleged  as  one  of  its  significations,  occa- 
sionally occurring.  Here,  however,  this  meaning  will  not  help  the 
cause  of  annihilation ;  nor,  indeed,  is  this  meaning  sustained  in  connec- 
tion with  the  treatment  of  offenders,  in  regard  to  whom  it  constantly 
signifies,  as  Mr.  Hudson  seems  to  admit,  "punishment." 

Is  there  a  difference  between  KoXaatg  and  riftcopla  ?  So  says  Aristotle 
(Rhet.  i.  10,  17) :  the  former  is  for  the  improvement  of  the  offender,  the 
latter  for  the  vindication  of  law  and  justice.  But  this  distinction  evi- 
dently disappeared  from  common  usage.  It  certainly  is  not  kept  up 
even  in  classic  Greek,  and  does  not  appear  in  the  Septuagint.  The 
word  nolacie  is  often  made  synonymous  with  Ttfiopia,  often  includes  it, 
as  we  shall  incidentally  show.  Nor  would  the  distinction  avail  any 
thing  for  annihilationism. 

Mr.  Hudson  accepts  the  meaning  u  punishment,"  as  he  must ;  but 
he  adds,  "  The  word  by  no  means  determines  the  kind  of  punishment." 
Certainly  not  the  method,  which  may  be  various ;  but  the  nature  of  pun- 
ishment, as  infliction  of  pain,  suffering,  or  harm,  is  constantly  implied, 
and  often  directly  expressed. 

Thus,  to  take  a  specimen  of  classic  Greek,  the  writer  of  which  was 
born  in  apostolic  times,  Plutarch  De  sera  numinis  vindicta,  we  find  that 

( 1 )  koTiuCo)  and  its  derivatives  are  the  prevalent  terms  that  express  the 
sufferings  of  the  wicked,  occurring  some  forty  or  fifty  times  or  more ; 

(2)  KoKaavq  is  continually  used  interchangeably  with  Tipcopia,  often  in  the 
same  sentence  (sections  9,  10,  11,  19,  24,  25);  (3)  its  meaning  is  un- 
folded in  such  phrases  as  "  undergoing  terrible  sufferings,  and  shameful 
and  painful  inflictions  of  vengeance  rifiupiac "  (sect.  25),  "bearing his 
own  cross  "  (sect.  9),  "  having  many  fears,  and  hard  experiences,  and  in- 
cessant cares  and  troubles,"  (ib.)  being  exercised  "with  sufferings  and 
fears  and  apprehensions  and  anxieties  (sect.  10),  "shameful  and  dis- 
tressing" (sect.  18),  taking  place  through  both  "  the  person  and  condi- 
tion "  (sect.  24),  and  many  other  allusions  to  various  forms  of  suffering ; 
and  (4)  it  is  deliberately  argued  (sect.  11),  that,  if  death  were  the  end  of 
suffering,  it  would  be  the  end  of  punishment,  n/icopia ;  which  is  not  the 
case. 

If  we  turn  back  to  the  Septuagint,  we  find  the  same  idea  of  inflicted 
suffering  in  whatever  form.  Thus,  1  Esdr.  viii.  24  (a  passage  con- 
founded by  Mr.  Hudson  with  Ezra  vii.  26),  the  disobedient  are  to  be 
punished,  Ko\ac$7joovTai,  "  whether  by  death  or  other  infliction,  rifiupia, 


NOTES.  379 

of  penalty  of  money,  or  imprisonment."  In  repeated  instances,  aolafa 
is  interchanged  with  (3aaavi&.  Thus  Wis.  xvi.  1  :  "  Therefore  they 
were  punished  (eKo?aio$r]aav)  worthily,  and  by  the  multitude  of  beasts 
tormented  "  (kj3a.Gavia&ijaav).  The  writer  follows  with  the  specification 
of  various  bodily  and  mental  tortures.  In  Wis.  xix.  4,  Kokaaiv  is  inter- 
changed with  j3aaavoig ;  apparently  iii.  1-4  ;  clearly  xi.  9,  10.  In  other 
passages,  the  word  includes  bodily  and  mental  sufferings,  such  as  thirst, 
tortures  and  terrors  from  wild  beasts  (Wis.  iii.  11),  injuries  inflicted  on 
enjmies  (1  Mac.  vii.  7),  and  the  woes  visited  upon  the  house  of  Israel 
for  disobedience  (Ezek.  xviii.  30,  "  so  iniquity  shall  not  be  your  ruin/' 
Kolaoiv;  see  also  xliv.  12).  This  last  thought  is  taken  up  by  the  Sep- 
tuagint  in  such  wise,  that  when  the  Hebrews  term  their  idols  stumbling- 
blocks  (bifflb>a),  as  the  cause  of  sin  and  woe  (Rosenmvller) ,  the  Septua- 
gint  translates  by  nb?.a<ug  (Ezek.  xiv.  3,  4,  7). 

The  reader  who  may  wish  to  examine  all  the  passages  in  which  the 
word  occurs  will  find  the  following  :  Ezek.  xiv.  3,  4,  7  ;  xviii.  30  ;  xliii. 
12;  xliv.  12;  1  Esdr.  viii.  24;  Wis.  Sol.  iii.  4;  xi.  5,  9,  14,  17;  xii. 
15,  27  ;  xiv.  10 ;  xvi.  1,  2,  9,  24  ;  xviii.  11,  22 ;  xix.  4 ;  1  Mac.  vii.  7  ; 
2  Mac.  vi.  14  ;  iv.  38  ;  3  Mac.  i.  3 ;  vi.  3. 

But,  says  Mr.  Hudson,  "  The  word  by  no  means  determines  the  kind 
of  punishment.  It  may  be  torment,  or  it  may  put  an  end  to  torment 
(Wis.  xix.  4).  It  may  be  banishment,  confiscation  of  goods,  or  im- 
prisonment (3  Esdr.  vii.  27).  In  most  of  the  passages,  it  is  death.  In 
one  (Wis.  iii.  1-4),  it  is  the  loss  of  immortality,  or  utter  destruction, 
which  seems  also  to  be  regarded  as  a  '  torment ; '  and  in  another  the 
destruction  of  an  idol  made  of  wood,  in  token  of  God's  displeasure,  is 
called  punishment  (Wis.  xiv.  8-10).  To  say  nothing  of  these  remarka- 
ble instances,  those  in  which  the  punishment  designated  is  death  show 
that  the  word  does  not  necessarily  denote  torment."  * 

Here  is  the  old  juggle  upon  end,  destruction,  death,  —  all  which  are 
assumed  to  be  extinction.  The  passage,  Wis.  xix.  4,  does  not  pro- 
nounce the  KoXaoig  to  be  a  termination  of  torment,  but  its  consummation 
or  goal,  "  the  fulfilling  "  of  what  "  was  wanting  to  their  torments." 
The  passage,  Wis.  iii.  1-4,  does  not  declare  the  koTmclq  to  be  "  loss  of 
immortality,  or  utter  destruction,"  i.e.  extinction.  It  simply  says,  that, 
in  the  eyes  of  men,  the  death  of  the  pious  seemed  to  be  a  calamity  or 
misery  (kukuoic),  and  ruin  (avvrptfifj-a) ;  whereas  they  are  "in  peace," 
and  "  no  torment  shall  touch  them."  And  both  the  passages  thus  cited 
seem  clearly  to  imply  that  death  itself  only  continues  and  completes  the 
sufferings  or  "  torments  "  of  the  wicked. 

*  Debt  and  Grace,  p.  191. 


380  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

If  W3  turn  to  the  apostolic  fathers,  the  same  notion  of  suffering  in- 
flicted seems  always  to  attach  itself  to  the  word  noXaoig.  The  word,  we 
believe,  does  not  occur  in  the  epistle  of  Barnabas,  but  we  have  the  phrase 
6dd(  -davarov  aluviov  fiera  rtficoplag,  the  path  of  eternal  death  with  ven- 
geance (sect,  xx.,  ed.  Dressel). 

Clement  (2d  ep.  ad  Corinth,  sect,  vi.)  makes  aluviov  Kokuoeug  the  an- 
tithesis of  uvdizavGLv,  rest,  and  (sect,  viii.)  declares  that  none  can  deliver 
those  appointed  to  be  cast  into  the  furnace  of  fire,  and  that,  "  after  we 
have  departed  from  this  world,  no  longer  can  we  then  confess  or  repent." 
When  he  unfolds  the  future  destiny  of  the  righteous  and  the  disobedient 
(sect.  x.,xi.),  he  declares  that  peace  shall  follow  the  one,  while  the  other 
shall  be  wretched,  raTuiiTrupoi ;  and  that  men  do  not  know  "  what  tor- 
ment (fiaoavov)  the  pleasure  of  this  world  has,  and  what  delight  the 
coming  promise." 

Ignatius  (ad  Romanos,  sect,  v.)  enumerates  as  the  sufferings  (nokaoELg) 
inflicted  by  the  devil,  "  fire  and  the  cross,  conflicts  with  wild  beasts,  lacer- 
ations, fractures,  dislocations  of  bones,  amputation  of  limbs,  and  contu- 
sions of  the  whole  body."  It  is  the  only  instance  in  which  we  have 
found  the  word  in  his  letters.   . 

In  the  "Martyrium  Ignatii  "  (written  probably  by  his  surviving  com- 
panions), there  occurs  (sect,  vii.)  the  phrase,  "immortal  (or  deathless) 
death,"  -davaTu  a&avaTU).  In  the  "  Martyrium  Polycarpi,"  we  are  told 
that  the  martyred  followers  of  Christ,  "  despising  the  torments  of  this 
world  (Paoavtov),  by  one  hour's  endurance  escaped  the  eternal  punish- 
ment, rrjv  aiuviov  Kokaotv.  And  the  fire  of  their  fierce  tormentors  seemed 
cool  to  them ;  for  they  had  before  their  eyes  the  fire  that  is  eternal,  and 
never  extinguished.  ...  In  like  manner  they  endured  terrible  sufferings 
(aoTiaoELg),  being  condemned  to  wild  beasts,  and  bound  upon  spiny  shell- 
fish (murices),  and  buffeted  with  various  other  tortures  (ftaoavoig) ,  that, 
if  possible,  the  tyrant  might,  by  incessant  suffering  (noMoeog ),  bring  them 
to  a  denial  of  Christ."  And  again  (sect,  xi.) :  Polycarp  is  represented  as 
replying,  "  You  threaten  me  with  the  fire  that  burns  for  a  season,  and  is 
soon  extinguished ;  for  you  are  ignorant  of  the  fire  of  the  future  judg- 
ment, and  of  eternal  punishment  (nohaoeug),  reserved  for  the  wicked. 

It  is  very  evident  that  the  writers  of  the  classic,  the  Alexandrian,  and 
patristic  Greek  were  ignorant  of  any  Kokaat^  that  excluded  the  idea  of 
suffering. 


NOTES.  881 

NOTE  H.—  Page  297. 

GEHENNA. 

After  all  that  has  been  written  upon  the  Greek  word  yeevva  (the  later 
Jewish  E!rt!l),  there  exists  a  very  common  misconception  regarding  it,— 
the  supposition  that  this  composite  word  in  the  time  of  Christ  had  two 
meanings,  a  primary  and  usual  meaning  as  the  name  of  a  valley  south 
of  Jerusalem,  and  an  unusual  and  secondary  or  figurative  meaning,  de- 
noting the  place  of  future  punishment.  Thus  Mr.  Barnes,  on  Matt.  v. 
22  :  "  The  word  gehenna,  commonly  translated  '  hell/  is  made  up  of 
two  Hebrew  words,  and  signifies  the  Valley  of  Hinnom.  ...  It  was 
called  '  the  gehenna  of  fire ; '  and  was  the  image  which  our  Saviour  often 
employed  to  denote  the  future  punishment  of  the  wicked."  And  even 
Lange  writes,  "  Originally  EISIl  *%  the  Valley  of  Hinnom  .  .  .  King 
Josiah  converted  it  into  a  place  of  abomination  where  dead  bodies  were 
thrown  out  and  burnt  (2  Kings  xxiii.  10, 14).  Hence  it  served  as  a  sym- 
bol of  condemnation,  and  of  the  abode  of  lost  spirits." 

From  the  statement  of  Mr.  Barnes,  the  reader  might  infer  that  this  use 
of  the  term  to  denote  hell  was  a  peculiarity  of  our  Saviour ;  and  from  that 
of  Lange,  that  it  was  not  the  proper  meaning  of  the  word,  but  rather  a 
poetic  conception. 

But,  first,  this  word  was  abundantly  employed  by  the  Jews  to  denote 
the  place  of  future  punishment.  Says  Lightfoot  (Horse  Hebr.  Works, 
vol.  ii.  p.  141),  "  The  Jews  do  very  usually  express  hell,  or  the  place  of 
the  damned,  by  the  word  D3t"l3,  which  might  be  shown  by  infinite  ex- 
amples." To  the  same  effect  Winer,  EWB,  vol.  i.  p.  492 ;  Gesenius's 
Thesaurus,  p.  281,  etc.  Even  Alger  ("  Doctrine  of  a  Future  Life,"  p. 
328)  is  obliged  to  write  thus  :  "In  some  of  the  Targums  or  Chaldce 
paraphrases  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  especially  in  the  Targum  of  Jon- 
athan Ben  Uzziel,  we  meet  repeated  applications  of  the  word  gehenna  to 
signify  a  punishment  by  fire  in  the  future  state.  This  is  a  fact  about 
which  there  can  be  no  question.  And  to  the  documents  showing  such  a 
usage  of  the  word,  the  best  scholars  are  pretty  well  agreed  in  assigning 
a  date  as  early  as  the  days  of  Christ.  The  evidence  afforded  by  these 
Targums,  together  with  the  marked  application  of  the  term  by  Jesus 
himself,  and  the  similar  general  use  of  it  immediately  after,  both  by 
Christians  and  Jews,  render  it  not  improbable  that  gehenna  was  known 
to  the  cotemporarics  of  the  Saviour  as  the  metaphorical  name  of  hell." 
The  word  in  this  sense  belongs,  than,  to  the  Targums  as  much  as  to  the 
New  Testament;  is  actually  found  in  the  Talmud  as  well  as  in  the 
Church  fathers ;  and  was  employed  by  the  Rabbins  no  less  than  by  the 
Saviour. 


382  LIFE   AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

And,  secondly,  evidence  is  entirely  wanting;,  so  far  as  we  can  ascertain, 
that,  at  the  time  of  Christ,  the  one  word  yeevva,  t33H3,  was  ever  used 
in  any  other  sense  than  to  denote  the  place  of  future  punishment.  The 
change  that  had  passed  upon  it  was  greater  than  that  which  transferred 
TtapudeLoor,  from  designating  a  garden  (Gen.  ii.  8,  seq.)  or  a  park  (Nch. 
ii.  8),  to  signify  heaven  (Luke  xxiii.  43)  :  for  in  the  latter  case  the  word 
remained  unchanged  in  form,  and  its  old  meaning  can  still  be  found  in 
Josephus  (Antiq.,  vii.  14,  4  ;  viii.  7,  3)  ;  but  in  the  former  case  a  change 
passes  upon  the  form  of  the  words,  and  the  old  meaning  ceases  to  ap- 
pear. 

The  Greek  form  yeevva  is  not  found  in  the  Scptuagint :  the  nearest 
and  only  approach  to  it  is  yaievva  in  Josh,  xviii.  16.  Twice  it  is  ye 
Bevevvdfi  (2  Chron.  xxviii.  3 ;  xxxiii.  6).  In  Jer.  xix.  2,  6,  the  Hebrew 
is  translated  70  nolvavSpLov  vlov  '~Evv6p,,  and  Tzokvuvdpiov  vl£>v  t£>v  -etcvejv 
uvtcjv  (the  sepulcher  of  the  son  of  Hinnom,  the  sepukher  of  the  sons  of 
their  children) ;  and  in  all  other  passages,  (pupayt-  '~Evv6p.  Valley  of 
Hinnom  (Josh.  xv.  8,  twice)  or  more  commonly  (j>apayt-  vlov  'Evvd/x 
Valley  of  the  son  of  Hinnom  (2  Kings  xviii.  10 ;  Jer.  vii.  31,  32 ;  xxxii. 
35).  And  the  Hebrew  to  which  it  corresponds  is  the  phrase  DST^  &03 
or  *3,  Valley  of  the  son  of  Hinnom  (Jer.  vii.  32 ;  xix.  2,  6 ;  2  Chron. 
xxviii.  3;  xxxiii.  6;  Josh.  xv.  8;  xviii.  16,  twice);  E2H  ^32  h3  Valley 
of  the  sons  of  Hinnom  (2  Kings  xxiii.  10),  and  in  two  instances  DSFI  n3 
Valley  of  Hinnom  (Neh.  xi.  30;  Josh.  xv.  8). 

Thus  it  appears  from  the  date  of  Joshua  to  that  of  Chronicles  to  have 
been  customary  with  the  Jews  to  designate  the  locality  in  question,  not 
by  a  word  but  by  a  phrase,  and  with  the  Septuagint  translators  to  rep- 
resent that  Hebrew  phrase  by  a  variety  of  phrases,  but  in  no  instance 
by  the  precise  word  yeevva,  though  in  one  case  nearly  approximating  to 
it.  The  phrase  or  the  word  does  not  appear  in  the  Apocrypha.  But 
we  learn  from  the  later  portions  of  the  Old  Testament  that  the  locality 
itself  had  been  invested  with  associations  of  the  utmost  abhorrence  ;  and, 
some  hundreds  of  years  later,  a  single  word  appears  unquestionably  de- 
rived from  that  phrase,  yet  differing  from  it  in  form,  and  employed  by 
Targumist,  Rabbin,  the  great  Redeemer,  and  the  Christian  fathers  alike, 
to  designate  the  place  of  future  punishment,  with  no  cited  instance  in 
which  it  clearly  bears  any  other  meaning.  We  find  Jerome  designating 
the  valley  by  the  full  phrase  vallis  Jiliorum  Ennom  (Hier.  in  Jer.  vii.  22), 
and  Eusebius  in  the  "  Onomasticon,"  (papaytj  ruv  vICjv'Evvu/x,  while  the 
Arabs  from  th«  twelfth  century  to  the  present  time  call  it  by  the  full 
name,  Wady  (or  valley)  Jehennam. 

We  may  accordingly  accept  the  statement  of  Gesenius  as  a  fair  history 


NOTES.  383 

of  the  word.  He  first  describes  the  original  locality  itself  under  its  full 
title,  as  "  a  valley  on  the  south  and  east  of  Jerusalem,  through  which 
ran  the  southern  boundary  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  and  the  northern 
of  Judah,  famous  for  its  human  sacrifices  offered  to  Moloch  (2  Kings 
xxiii.  10;  Jer.  vii.  32;  xix.  2,  6);  also  called  Tophet,  and  by  special 
distinction  K^n  (the  valley,  Jer.  ii.  23),  Sept.  ev  r<p  TroXvavSplu),  i.e.  in 
the  place  of  sepulchers ;  for  such  was  the  Valley  of  Hinnom.  After 
these  horrid  sacrifices  were  abolished,  the  name  of  this  valley,  contracted 
and  changed  (Chald.  B;H3,  Gr.  in  New  Test,  yeevva),  began  to  be  employed 
concerning  h-U  and  its  torments,  —  in  my  judgment,  as  though  the  chief 
abode  of  idolatry,  i.e.  of  evil  demons  "  (Thesaurus  p.  280,  281).  It  is, 
therefore,  in  strict  accordance  with  the  facts  of  the  case  that  Passow,  in 
defining  yeevva,  simply  says,  "  A  word  borrowed  from  the  Hebrew,  hell 
(New  Test.  Ch.  Fathers,  Orac.  Sib.").  Winer  also  states  the  case  sub- 
stantially in  the  same  manner.  After  describing  the  locality  from  which 
the  name  was  derived  as  a  place  "  where,  at  various  early  periods,  the 
ungodly  Israelites  offered  their  children  to  Moloch,"  he  adds,  "  there- 
fore was  this  place  abhorred  as  profane,  and,  among  the  later  Jews,  with 
reference  to  the  fires  of  Moloch,  it  served  as  a  symbol  of  hell,  the  place 
of  everlasting  condemnation,  which,  therefore,  was  called  yeevva,  Chal- 
dee  C3-  St." 

It  has  been  often  asserted  that  fires  were  kept  constantly  burning  in  the 
Valley  of  Hinnom  to  consume  the  filth  and  offal  that  were  cast  there. 
But  Dr.  Robinson  denies  that  there  is  "  evidence  of  any  other  fires  hav- 
ing kept  up  in  the  valley  than  the  original  fires  of  Moloch  (New  Test. 
Lexicon,  yeevva,  Bib.  Res.,  vol.  i.  404).  Still  more  destitute  of  founda- 
tion is  the  assertion  by  Barnes  and  others,  that  "  this  valley  was  called 
the  gvhenna  of  fire."  Few  terms  have  been  the  subject  of  more  loose 
statements  than  this  word  yeevva. 

I  am  happy  to  confirm  these  statements  by  the  full  concurrence  of  my 
friend,  Prof.  E.  P.  Barrows  of  Andover.     He  writes,  — 

"  Two  things  appear  to  me  certain. 

"  First,  That  the  Chaldee  word  &3H3,  the  Greek  yeevva,  represents,  so 
far  as  mere  derivation  is  concerned,  the  Hebrew  fiSn  H3  (Josh.  xv.  S), 
which  is  a  compendium  for  the  full  expression  tiiT"p  h3>  that  occurs  in 
the  same  verse.  A  connecting  link  between  the  two  occurs  in  Jonathan's 
Targum,  Isa.  lxvi.  24,  in  the  form  BSn*1?. 

»«  Secondly,  That,  in  our  Lord's  day,  the  Chaldee  WW,  and  the  Greek 
yeevva,  had  come  in  well-established  theological  usage — probably  long 
before  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  —  to  signify  hell,  i.e.  the  place 
of  torment  for  the  wicked ;  and  that  this  was  the  only  sense  of  the  word.  The 


384  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

Targum  of  Jonathan,  which  employs  the  word  KJTI*,|  (Isa.  lxvi.  24) 
to  denote  the  place  of  punishment  of  the  wicked,  uses  the  words  Mfl  *I3 
fip^n  as  the  equivalent  of  ^T"\5  ^j?  ( Jer.  xix.  2 ;  xxxii.  35  ;  Josh.  xv. 
8 ;  2  Kings  xxiii.  10) ;  and  for  tdn  ^3  (Josh.  xv.  8)  he  uses,  in  like  man- 
ner, fiin  r^n-  I  have  not  access  to  the  Targum  on  Chronicles,  and 
therefore  can  not  speak  of  2  Chron.  xxviii.  3  ;  xxxiii.  6. 

"  How  the  word  came  to  be  thus  employed  is  a  question  about  which 
there  is  room  for  different  opinions.  .  .  .  But,  theory  as  to  the  man- 
ner of  transfer  aside,  the  transfer  itself  is  certain.  And  it  had  become  as 
( complete  in  our  Lord's  day,  as  that  of  the  word  pagan,  that  is  "  villa- 
ger," is  in  our -day.  As  well  might  one  say,  that,  when  we  use  the  word 
"  pagan  '  we  mean  the  inhabitant  of  a  village,  as  when  the  New  Testa- 
ment, n  conformity  with  all  we  know  of  the  usage  of  the  age,  uses  the 
word  yeivva,  it  refers  to  the  pretended  fires  kept  burning  in  the  valley 
south  of  Jerusalem.  I  know  of  no  passage  in  the  Rabbinical  writings 
where  the  word  tDSfT3  means  any  thing  else  but  the  place  where  the 
wicked  are  punished.  They  tell  us  in  one  of  their  legends,  puerile 
enough  it  is  true,  but  pertinent  to  the  point  in  question,  that  WTO  was 
made  on  the  second  day,  which  is  the  reason  why  it  is  not  said  of  that 
day,  '  God  saw  that  it  was  good.' — See  in  Buxtorf  s  Lexicon.  But  we 
know  that  the  Valley  of  the  son  of  Hinnom  was  made  on  the  third  day, 
when  the  dry  land  was  separated  from  the  water." 


NOTE  I.— Page  188. 

FUTURE  RETRIBUTION  IN  THE  BOOK  OF  ENOCH. 

We  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  encumber  our  text  with  extracts 
from  this  remarkable  book ;  but,  as  Mr.  Hudson  has  endeavored  to  con- 
fuse its  clear  testimony,  the  subject  deserves  a  note. 

The  so-called  Book  of  EnoL'h  was  alluded  to  by  several  of  the  Chris- 
tian fathers  of  the  second  century  (Irenanis,  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
Origen,  Tertullian),  and  was  quoted  in  considerable  fragments  by  Syn- 
cellus  of  the  eighth  century;  but  it  was  unknown  as  a  whole  until 
1773,  when  Bruce,  the  traveler,  brought  from  Abyssinia  three  copies  of 
it  in  the  Ethiopic  language.  It  is  known  to  have  previously  existed  in 
Greek,  and  is  thought  by  some,  including  Dillmann,  to  have  come  from 
a  Hebrew  (or  Aramean)  original. 

The  Ethiopian  version  was  first  translated  into  English,  quite  defec- 
tively, by  Rev.  R.  Laurence  ( afterwards  Archbishop  of  Cashel  ),  in 
the  year  1821 ;  but  was  far  more  carefully  translated  into  German,  and 


NOTES.  385 

more  adequately  edited  by  Dr.  A.  Dillmann  in  1853.  There  were 
intermediate  editions  by  Gfrorer  and  Hofmann,  founded  on  the  transla- 
tion of  Laurence ;  but  Dillmann's  edition  is  the  only  adequate  one. 

In  the  earlier  discussions,  on  the  basis  of  an  imperfect  edition,  and 
from  considerations  connected  with  the  quotation  in  Jude,  several  wri- 
ters (  Stuart,  Liicke,  Nitzsch,  Weisse)  regarded  it  as  the  work  of  a 
Christian  writer,  composed  soon  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 
Liicke,  however,  retracted  his  opinion,  and  adopted  the  now  prevalent 
view,  advocated  by  Davidson,  Dillmann,  Westcott,  Kostlin,  Ewald,  that 
the  book  was  written  by  a  Jew  some  considerable  time  before  the  Chris- 
tian era.  Hilgenfeld  adopts  the  same  view  as  to  the  body  of  the  work, 
which  he  assigns  to  the  beginning  of  the  first  century  before  Christ; 
but  he  supposes  interpolations  by  some  Christian  writer,  not  including 
the  passages  that  bear  on  our  argument.  Of  the  other  writers  above 
mentioned,  Ewald  refers  the  composition  of  the  ground- work  to  the 
period  between  B.C.  144  and  B.C.  120,  and  the  final  form  of  the  book 
to  the  first  half  of  the  century  before  Christ.  Liicke  refers  the  main 
part  of  it  to  the  beginning  of  the  Maecabsean  struggle,  and  the  remainder 
to  the  time  of  the  rise  of  Herod  the  Great ;  Dillmann  to  the  time  of 
John  Hyrcanus,  B.C.  110;  and  Kostlin  to  the  period  between  110  and 
64  B.C.  This  now  general  agreement  as  to  the  early  date  and  Jewish 
origin  of  the  book  is  quite  noticeable. 

Mr.  Hudson  firmly  maintains  the  Jewish  origin  of  the  book,  but  en- 
deavors to  break  the  force  of  its  testimony  on  the  subject  of  future  pun- 
ishment (Debt  and  Grace,  pp.  216-218). 

Dillmann,  in  his  elaborate  edition  of  the  work,  makes,  among  others, 
the  following  statements  :  "  The  doctrine  of  the  condition  after  death, 
the  resurrection,  and  future  retribution,  holds  a  very  prominent  place 
in  the  author's  system.  Throughout  his  book,  he  often  recurs  to  the 
subject,  and  gives  very  expanded  statements  concerning  it,  speaking  more 
expressly  and  particularly  than  Ave  read  in  any  other  author  before  the 
time  of  Christ.  In  chap,  xxii.,  he  enters  upon  a  detailed  description 
of  Sheol ;  informs  us  in  what  part  of  the  earth  it  is  situated,  and  how  it 
is  so  arranged  that  here,  immediately  after  death,  a  first  and  preliminary 
retribution  for  the  evil  and  the  good  can  take  place  at  once.  He  copi- 
ously describes  Gehenna,  the  place  of  punishment  for  the  theocratic  sin- 
ners, in  chaps,  xxvi.,  xxvii.,  liv.,  lvi.,  xc;  and  always  names,  as  the 
means  of  punishment,  fire  and  darkness,  yet  without  indicating  how  the 
two  can  be  supposed  together.  He  describes  also  the  hell  of  the  fallen 
angels  and  the  disobedient  powers  of  nature ;  the  lake  of  fire  beyond 
the  limits  of  heaven   and  earth,  in  empty  space  (Tartarus),  chaps. 


386  LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 

xviii.,  xix.,  xxi.,  xc.  He  delineates  the  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
chaps,  li.,  lxi. ;  and  minutely  describes  the  Messianic  judgment  upon 
the  living  and  the  dead,  Jew  and  Heathen,  the  earthly  and  the  heavenly, 
(chaps,  xlvii.,  liii.-lvi.,  lxi.-lxiii.,  lxix.,  xc),  chiefly  after  the  method 
of  Daniel.  .  .  .  God,  appearing  with  all  the  holy  angels,  and  the 
Messiah,  discriminate  upon  the  deeds  of  men  ;  and  first  the  fallen  angels, 
then  the  haughty  heathen  rulers  who  have  oppressed  the  people,  and  all 
apostate  Israelites,  go  to  their  eternal  place  of  punishment,  while  on  the 
other  side,  the  church  of  the  righteous  is  brought  to  its  manifestation." 
(Einleitung,  19-21). 

Such  is  the  general  drift  of  teaching  on  this  subject,  according  to 
Dillmann's  analysis.  Now  for  a  few  specimens.  First,  the  immediate 
doom  of  sinners.  Chap.  xxii.  describes  (as  a  communication  from 
Raphael  to  Enoch)  "  a  place  in  the  west,  under  a  great  high  mountain," 
a  place  "  capacious  and  smooth,  deep  and  dark,"  where  "  the  spirits,  the 
souls  of  the  dead,  are  destined  to  be  collected ;"  in  which,  however, 
there  is  to  be  a  separation  among  the  spirits.  "  And  thus  are  the  souls 
of  the  righteous  separated  :  there  is  a  water-fountain,  and  above  it  light.* 
Even  so  is  there  a  like  division  made  for  sinners,  when  they  die  and  are 
buried  on  earth,  without  being  overtaken  by  judgment  in  their  lifetime. 
Here  will  their  souls  be  separated  in  this  great  suffering,  until  the  great 
day  of  judgment  and  punishment  and  torment  comes  for  the  blasphem- 
ers, to  eternity,  and  the  vengeance  on  their  souls ;  and  here  they  are 
confined  till  eternity.  And  since  it  is  before  the  eternity  [i.e.  the  final 
doom:  Dillmann],  therefore  is  this  separation!  for  the  souls  of  those 
who  make  outcry  and  complaint  of  their  overthrow,  because  they  were 
destroyed  in  the  day  of  sinners :  so  has  it  been  done  for  the  souls  of 
men  who  were  not  righteous,  but  sinners  ripened  in  guilt, —  they  shall 
be  with  the  wicked,  and  like  them,  but  their  souls  shall  not  be  put  to 
death  in  the  day  of  judgment,  nor  shall  they  come  out  from  hence." 
There  is  no  ambiguity  here.  Again  (chap,  xxvii.) :  "  This  cursed  valley 
is  for  those  who  shall  be  cursed  to  eternity.  Here  must  be  gathered  all 
those  who  utter  with  their  mouths  unseemly  Avords  against  God,  and 
speak  irreverently  of  his  glory  ;  here  shall  they  be  collected,  and  here 
shall  be  the  place  of  their  punishment.  And  in  the  last  time,  an  ex- 
ample will  be  made  of  a  righteous  judgment  upon  them  before  the  saints, 
to  eternity  always.  Thereupon  will  they  who  found  mercy  praise  the 
Lord  of  glory,  the  eternal  King."     Again,  with  singular  similarity  to 

*  We  follow  Dillmann  where  he  deviates  from  Laurence. 

t  An  additional  or  second  division  for  the  wicked.  —  See  Dillmann. 


NOTES.  387 

the  Saviour's  phrase,  the  severity  of  their  doom  is  thus  described  (chap, 
xxxviii. )  :  "  When  the  light  of  the  righteous,  and  of  the  elect  who 
dwell  on  the  earth,  shall  shine  forth,  where  shall  then  be  the  dwelling 
of  sinners,  and  the  abode  of  those  who  have  denied  the  Lord  of  spirits  1 
It  would  have  been  better  for  them  had  they  never  been  born." 

The  fate  and  the  abode  of  the  fallen  angels  and  their  partners  in 
guilt  is  thus  described  (chap,  xxi.) :  "And  from  thence  I  passed  on  to 
another  place,  still  more  terrible  than  the  other,  and  saw  something 
dreadful.  A  great  fire  was  there,  that  flamed  and  blazed  ;  and  it  had 
divisions.  It  was  bounded  by  an  absolute  abyss,  and  great  pillars  of 
fire  dropped  down  therein.  Its  extent  and  greatness  I  could  not  discern, 
nor  could  I  discover  its  origin.  Then  said  I,  '  How  terrible  is  this  place ! 
and  what  torture  to  look  upon  it ! '  Then  answered  me  Uriel,  one  of  the 
holy  angels  who  was  with  me, —  he  answered,  and  said  unto  me,  '  Enoch, 
why  art  thou  alarmed  and  amazed  at  this  terrible  place,  at  sight  of  this 
place  of  suffering  1 '  And  he  said  unto  me,  '  This  place  is  the  prison  of 
the  angels,and  here  will  they  be  kept  imprisoned  to  eternity.'  "  To  a  simi- 
lar fiery  abode  (chaps,  xviii.,  xix.,)  are  condemned  the  disobedient  stars, 
"  bound,"  and  "  rolling  over  the  fire ;  "  here  too  are  the  angels  who  co- 
habited with  women,  and  the  women  their  companions.  The  same 
place  is  described  (chap,  xc.)  as  "the  place  of  punishment,"  "a  place 
full  of  fire,  flaming,  and  full  of  pillars  of  fire,"  "  fiery  deeps,"  into 
which  were  cast  the  stars,  the  unfaithful  shepherds,  and  the  blinded 
sheep. 

The  resurrection  is  asserted  (  chap.  li. )  thus  :  "  In  those  days  shall 
the  earth  give  back  that  which  was  intrusted  to  it,  and  the  kingdom  of 
the  dead  shall  give  hack  what  was  intrusted  to  it,  and  destruction  shall 
give  up  what  it  owes.  And  he  will  select  the  righteous  and  the  holy 
from  among  them  ;  for  the  day  of  their  salvation  has  come."  Again, 
chap.  lxi.  5  :  "  And  these  measures  shall  reveal  all  that  was  hidden  in 
the  depths  of  the  earth ;  and  those  who  perished  throughout  the  deserts, 
and  those  that  were  devoured  by  the  fish  of  the  sea  and  by  the  beasts, 
shall  return,  and  trust  upon  the  day  of  the  Elect  [the  Messiah] ;  since 
none  shall  perish  in  the  presence  of  the  Lord  of  spirits,  nor  shall  any  be 
capable  of  perishing."  So  also  the  resurrection  of  the  righteous  is  af- 
firmed in  chaps,  xci.,  xcii.,  c. 

Among  the  scenes  of  judgment,  we  are  told  (chap,  lxii.),  "In  that 
day  shall  all  the  kings,  the  princes,  the  exalted,  and  those  who  possess 
the  earth,  stand  up  and  see,  and  know  that  He  is  sitting  on  the  throne 
of  his  glory.  .  .  .  Trouble  shall  come  upon  them  as  upon  a  woman 
in  travail.     Cne  portion  of  them  shall  look  upon  another.    They  shall 


388  LIFE  AND   DEATH  ETERNAL. 

be  astonished,  and  shall  humble  their  countenances,  and  trouble  shall 
seize  them,  when  they  see  this  Son  of  the  woman  sitting  on  the  throne 
of  his  glory.  .  .  .  And  all  the  mighty  kings,  and  the  exalted,  and 
those  who  rule  over  the  earth,  shall  fall  down  on  their  faces  before  him, 
and  shall  worship  him.  They  shall  fix  their  hopes  on  this  Son  of  man, 
shall  pray  to  him,  and  beseech  him  for  mercy.  Then  shall  the  Lord  of 
spirits  hasten  to  expel  them  from  his  presence.  Their  faces  shall  be  full 
of  confusion,  and  darkness  shall  cover  their  faces.  And  the  angels  of 
punishment  shall  take  them  to  inflict  retribution  upon  them,  because 
they  oppressed  his  children  and  elect." 

The  final  portion  of  the  wicked  is  thus  set  forth  (chap,  ciii.)  :  "  Woe 
to  you,  sinners,  when  you  die  in  your  sins,  and  they  who  are  like  you 
say,  respecting  you,  '  Blessed  are  these  sinners,  they  have  lived  out  their 
whole  period,  and  now  they  die  in  happiness  and  in  wealth.  Distress 
and  slaughter  they  knew  not  while  alive ;  in  honor  they  die ;  nor  ever 
in  their  lifetime  did  judgment  overtake  them.'  Know  you  not  that  into 
the  kingdom  of  the  dead  your  souls  shall  go  down,  and  they  shall  fare 
ill,  and  great  shall  be  your  misery  ?  And  into  darkness,  and  into  sor- 
rows, and  into  burning  flame,  will  your  spirit  go  at  the  great  judgment ; 
and  the  great  judgment  shall  be  for  all  generations  to  eternity.  Woe 
unto  you ;  for  you  have  no  peace ! " 

The  book  closes  (chap,  cviii.)  with  the  contrasted  destinies  of  the 
righteous  and  the  wicked.  "  Another  writing  which  Enoch  wrote  for 
his  son  Methuselah,  and  for  those  who  come  after  him,  and  who  will 
have  kept  the  law  in  the  last  days.  You  who  have  done  so,  and  now 
wait  in  those  days  till  the  evil-doers  shall  have  made  an  end,  and  the 
power  of  evil  shall  have  reached  an  end,  wait  until  sin  pass  away; 
for  their  name  shall  be  blotted  out  from  the  books  of  the  holy,  and  they 
shall  cry  out  and  lament  in  a  waste,  desert  place,  and  shall  burn  in  fire 
where  there  is  no  earth.  Then  I  perceived,  as  it  were,  a  cloud  which  I 
could  not  clearly  discern ;  for  from  its  depth  I  could  not  look  up  to  it. 
And  the  flame  of  its  fire  I  saw  burn  bright ;  and  it  whirled  like  a  glitter- 
ing mountain,  and  was  agitated  from  side  to  side.  Then  I  inquired  of 
one  of  the  holy  angels  who  were  with  me,  and  said,  '  What  is  that  glitter- 
ing object !  for  it  is  not  heaven,  but  the  flame  of  a  burning  fire,  and  the 
sound  of  outcry  and  weeping  and  lamentations  and  extreme  suffering.' 
And  he  said  to  me,  'That  place  which  thou  seest,  —  into  it  shall  be 
brought  the  spirits  of  the  sinners  and  blasphemers,  and  of  those  who  do 
evil  and  prevent  all  that  God  spoke  by  the  mouth  of  the  prophets  con- 
cerning future  things.  .  .  .  And  I'  [says  God]  '  will  bring  forth  into 
splendid  light  those  who  loved  my  holy  name ;  and  I  will  place  each  on 


NOTES.  389 

a  throne  of  glory, —  his  own  glory.  And  they  shall  shine  ages  without 
number/  For  righteous  is  the  judgment  of  God  :  to  the  true  he  will  give 
truth  in  the  habitations  of  uprightness  ;  and  they  shall  see  how  those 
who  were  born  in  darkness  into  darkness  shall  be  cast,  while  the  right- 
eous shine.  And  the  sinners  shall  cry  out,  and  shall  see  them  as  they 
shine;  and  also  they  shall  go  thither,  where  clays  and  times  are  pre- 
scribed for  them." 

These  extracts  might  be  greatly  increased  ;  but,  as  they  are  decisive, 
we  refrain.     Nor  do  we  care  to  examine  in  detail  Mr.  Hudson's  faint 
attempts  to  confuse  the  testimony.     In  the  presence  of  these  distinct  and 
varied    declarations   that  the  wicked  enter  upon  a  state  of  conscious 
suffering  at  death,  that  they  and  the  fallen  angels  are  doomed  to  eternal 
suffering  cotemporaneous  with  the  blessedness  of  the  righteous,  it  is 
of  no  avail  for  him  to  remark  that  "  the  book  is  as  silent  respecting  im- 
mortality, as  the  Scriptures  themselves," — a  proposition  which  we  have 
no  occasion  to  dispute ;  or  that  "  some  of  the  expressions  may  denote 
eternity  of  effect,"  —  for  a  sufficient  number  and  variety  of  them  cannot 
be  so  evaded ;  or  that  "  the  style  of  the  book  is  highly  dramatic," —  the 
feeblest  of  all  rejoinders  to  its  accumulated  testimony.     To  say  that 
"  the  expression,  '  their  souls  shall  not  be  annihilated  in  the  day  of  judg- 
ment/ does  not  necessarily  imply  that  they  will  never  be  annihilated," 
is  certainly  a  very  narrow  foothold  in  itself,  and  disappears  before  the 
express  statements  concerning  their  subsequent  fate  of  woe.     The  perpet- 
ual juggle  on  the  words  "perish,"  "consumed,"  "slain,"  "destroyed," 
is  extinguished  by  the  explanations  of  the  context  in  many  instances, 
which  puts  words  into  the  mouths,  and   suffering  into  the   souls,  of 
these  slain  and  perished  persons.     Thus  one  of  Mr.  Hudson's  quota- 
tions —  "  our  spirits  have  been  consumed,  lessened,  and  diminished"— is 
uttered  by  the  victims  themselves,  who  immediately  add,  in  still  intenser 
forms,  "  we  have  perished,  have  been  tonnented  and  destroyed"  (chap, 
ciii. ).     Another  of  his  quotations,  —  "  Their  names  shall  be  blotted  out 
from  the  holy  book ;  their  seed  shall  be  destroyed,  and  their  souls  slain" — 
is  immediately  followed  by  a  statement  which  he  does  not  see  fit  to  quote: 
"  They  shall  cry  out  and  lament  in  the  invisible  waste  ;  and  in  the  fire 
shall  they  burn"  (  cv.  Laurence,  cviii.  Dillmann).     The  word  "  slain  " 
here,  as  Dillmann  shows,  signifies  "  the  eternal  death,  the  wearing-away 
of  the  spirit  in  everlasting  pain."     Others  of  his  few  quotations   admit 
of  the  same  explanation,  while  some  of  them  (  e.g.  ch.  xc.)  evidently 
refer  only  to  the  removal  of  the  wicked«from  the  earth.     The  Book  of 
Enoch  is  a  difficult  text-book  for  annihilationists. 
As  this  book  gives  the  Jewish  opinions  one  or  two  centuries  before 


390 


LIFE  AND  DEATH  ETERNAL. 


Christ,  we  also  subjoin  the  testimony  of  Hippolytus  in  the  second  cen- 
tury after  Christ.  In  describing  the  Jewish  sects,  he  speaks  first  of  the 
Essenes.  "  They  strongly  hold  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection ;  for 
they  profess  that  the  flesh  also  will  be  raised,  and  will  become  immortal, 
as  the  soul  is  already  immortal ;  this  [soul],  they  say,  having  departed 
to  a  light  and  airy  place,  which  the  Greeks  hearing  of  called  islands  of 
the  blessed,  remains  there  till  the  judgment.  .  .  .  And  they  say  there 
will  be  a  judgment,  and  a  conflagration  of  the  universe;  and  the  wicked 
will  be  punished  for  ever."  (Lib.  ix.  27.)  His  statement  concerning  th3 
doctrine  of  the  Pharisees  may  be  found  on  page  377  of  his  volume,  and 
is  very  express  in  regard  to  the  eternal  duration  of  the  punishment.  His 
testimony  concerning  the  Sadducees  conforms  to  that  of  the  Scrijjtures 
and  of  Josephus ;  and  he  adds  that  the  sect  prevailed  largely  in  Samaria. 
To  this  sect  alone,  he  ascribes  the  entire  denial  of  immortality  and  of 
retribution.  "  They  deny  a  resurrection  of  the  flesh,  and  think  that  the 
soul  does  not  continue  to  exist ;  that  it  has  life  only,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose only  was  never  made  ;  but  the  notion  of  the  resurrection  is  fulfilled 
in  our  leaving  children  on  the  earth  when  we  die.  But  after  death  they 
hope  to  experience  neither  good  nor  evil ;  for  there  will  be  a  dissolu- 
tion both  of  soul  and  body ;  and  man,  like  other  animals,  departs  into 
non-existence."  (Lib.  ix.  29.) 


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